Sandra's Gluten-Free Cooking Blog

Crispy Chocolate Gluten Free cookie recipe

2011-04-04T07:16:00.001-04:00

This recipe started because I was going to make a cheese cake. I then realized I didn't have chocolate cookie crumbs for the crust. I went to the store to look for a chocolate cookies or crumbs and the store wanted $6.00 for a small box of cookies. This is the cookie recipe that I came up with. They are quite good, so if you are going to use them for a crust, don't let your kids see or taste them first.

Crispy Chocolate Gluten Free Cookies
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg

Dry Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup Featherlight Flour Blend*
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon EnerG egg replacer
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat oven to 350F

Beat butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.

Add vanilla and egg. Beat together again for 2-3 minutes.

In a separate bowl, sift and mix the dry ingredients (flour mixture, cocoa powder, egg replacer, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). Stir together or whisk together gently.

Add dry ingredients to sugar/egg/butter mixture. Mix together on low speed until the dough comes together. (It will come together, even though at first it appears like it won’t.)

Roll up dough into log about 1-1/2 to 2 inches around in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. You can also freeze part of the dough for up to 2 weeks to make fresh cookies later.
Using sharp knife, slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheet.

Cover cookie pans with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies for 10 - 15 minutes. Allow to cool a couple minutes before sliding on to a cooling rack and cooling completely.

Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 10 days or so.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 - 2011 All rights reserved

* Bette Hagman's Featherlight mix
Featherlight Mix - from Bette Hagman's Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread

1 cup Rice flour (I use Brown Rice flour)
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup tapioca starch
1 Tablespoons potato flour (Please note: I do not use the potato flour)

My Favorite Brown Rice Pasta

2011-03-29T12:10:00.001-04:00

If you are in Canada, I just noticed that Well.ca has my favorite pasta. Well.ca also has free shipping. Wow, good pasta and free shipping!

Plain Gluten Free Muffins Recipe

2011-03-28T09:20:00.004-04:00

This muffin recipe is a great plain muffin. These muffins can be used as dinner rolls or add the extra sugar and chocolate chips and you have a wonderful dessert muffin.

Dry Ingredients
2 cups sifted feather-light mix*
1/2 to l teaspoon salt
l teaspoon egg replacer
l-1/2 teaspoon xanthan
1/2 Tablespoons sugar (for sweeter rolls, you can add up to 2 TBSP)
4-1/2 teaspoons double acting baking powder

Wet Ingredients
3 Tablespoons Canola oil
l each egg
l-1/2 cup milk (or milk substitute)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Sift together dry ingredients, flour, egg replacer, xanthan, baking powder sugar and salt. Make a well in center.
2. Combine wet ingredients, egg, milk and oil.
3. Add wet to dry and stir only until flour is moistened. Do NOT over mix.
4. Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full.
5. Bake in hot oven (400°F,) 20 - 25 minutes, or until done.
When done, immediately take out of muffin pan and cool on wire rack.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 - 2011 All rights reserved

* Bette Hagman's Featherlight mix
Featherlight Mix - from Bette Hagman's Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread

1 cup Rice flour (I use Brown Rice flour)
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup tapioca starch
1 Tablespoons potato flour (Please note: I do not use the potato flour)
Mix well

My Absolutely Favorite Gluten Free Bread Recipe

2011-03-23T11:00:00.001-04:00

I use this recipe for bread, hamburger and hot dog buns, pizza crust (precook 20 minutes pizza shell, before cooking with your toppings), and dinner rolls. This is our family's favorite and most versatile white bread recipe.

To mix this bread recipe I use the bread machine. But, do not use the bread machine to cook the bread, the bread machine has too long of a rise cycle (you only rise 15 minutes when using Bread machine yeast) or you will end up with a big air hole in the finished bread. You might want to try regular yeast when using the bread machine, but I haven't tried this, so I am not sure if it will make a difference.

Wet Ingredients
1 cup hot water, 110°
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 egg plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dry Ingredients, Sift and mix together well
1 cup Sorghum Flour blend
2 cups potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon guar gum
1 teaspoon gelatin
1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid

1-1/2 tablespoons Bread machine Yeast

Warm your bread machine pan with hot water from the tap, meanwhile, sift and mix together your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, set aside.

Pour out the hot water from the bread machine pan. Add the wet ingredients to the bread machine pan, mix together well with a whisk.

Add your mixed dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients in the bread machine.

Add the bread machine yeast on top of the dry ingredients.

Start your bread machine on the dough setting and let the machine knead your bread for about 10 to 15 minutes.

I use Becel margarine to coat any pan I am cooking the different breads in.

Dough makes 2 small or 1 large loaves of bread, Rise 15 to 20 minutes in a warm oven, Only let the bread rise until double, more than that and you will have an air hole in the center of your loaf. Cook 30 minutes at 400°. Cover bread with foil half way through cooking if the crust is getting too brown. We like the crispy brown crust, so I do not cover mine.

Or, 2 pizza shells, Rise 15 minutes in a warm oven, cook 20 minutes at 400°. At 10 minutes into the cooking, I change racks that the pizza shells are on, so the bottoms don't get too brown. I freeze the second shell after cooling for 5 minutes on a rack, putting it into a large Ziplock freezer bag.

Or, approximately 12 large dinner rolls, hamburger or hot dog buns. Rise 15 minutes in a warm oven; cook 20 - 30 minutes at 375°. The dinner rolls I cook in a muffin pan, using a heaping 1/8 measure cup. I usually have extra dough, so I make a small loaf of bread too.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 - 2011 All rights reserved

My Favorite Brown Rice Pasta

2011-03-20T17:04:00.003-04:00

Wow, can you believe it's been almost a year since I have added to this blog. Were has the time gone, I guess I have been baking.

I have found one of the best rice pasta's, Tinkyada Rice Pasta at

http://tinkyada.com that I would like to tell you about. It cooks up wonderfully and isn't all soggy. It can even be reheated and baked without loosing the taste or texture.

I buy my Tinkyada pasta at Metro foods in the Ottawa Ontario region. I also just saw the spaghetti pasta at Farm Boy.

Gluten Free Cheese Scooped Biscuits Recipe

2010-04-26T10:06:00.004-04:00

This is a great biscuit recipe. They remind of the biscuits you can have at Red Lobster if you are not eating gluten-free. When we have company for dinner and they aren’t used to eating gluten-free, I like serving these biscuits. They taste very close to regular biscuits and they are always a favorite. I usually make these the day before without cooking them. I scoop them out onto a cookie tray and freeze them on the tray. After they are frozen I put them in a baggy and put them back into the freezer. The next day I take them out and defrost them about an hour before cooking them. Mmmmm good!

Makes about 12 biscuits

Ingredients
2 cups Gluten-Free Baking Classics” brown rice flour mix, page 6
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 teaspoon salt if using salted butter)
1-1/8 cups cold milk + 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (let sit about 10 minutes)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 450F.

Add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to cold milk and set aside until thickened (about 8 - 10 minutes). Keep it in the refrigerator until you need it again

Cut butter into pats and melt in the microwave, set aside and let cool a bit.

Sift and whisk together dry ingredients (flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt) in a small mixing bowl.

Pour the melted butter into the cold milk while stirring. The butter will form small clumps within the milk. Don’t worry - This helps disperse the butter in little chunks throughout the dough when it bakes.

Add milk/butter mixture and cheese to dry ingredients and stir gently until combined. The dough should not be too sticky. If it is, add a tablespoon of flour mix at a time until it comes together better but isn’t super-sticky.

Scoop out with a 1/4 cup measuring cup and drop onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. If you like, you can brush the baked biscuits with melted butter (mixed with garlic, optional).

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 All rights reserved

Gluten Free Chick Peas & Bananas Muffins Recipe

2010-04-10T14:01:00.003-04:00

As I have said in previous blogs, my son has muffins every day for lunch. So I am always on a quest for healthier choices. We also don't like to use a lot of lunch meat, so I am worried he isn't getting enough protein. That's why I added the chick peas to this recipe. The chick peas add a great taste too. You can add a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips if you like to the muffin mix, but I like putting 4 or 5 chips on top of the muffins. It adds less sugar and fat to the muffins, but it makes you feel like you are having chocolate chip muffins.

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Sandra's Muffin mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons egg replacer
1-1/2 teaspoons guar gum
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup sugar

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup pureed chick peas
1/2 cup mashed bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice (sour milk)
Preheat oven to 350°F Grease a 12 cup muffin pan and dust well with flour.

In a large bowl sift, then stir together dry ingredients. Set Aside.
Puree chick peas in food processor with the 2 eggs. Add the check peas and eggs to a bowl. Add mashed bananas, oil, sugar, vanilla and sour milk; mix well. Make a well in the centre of flour mixture and pour in banana mixture; fold just until combined.. Pour batter into prepared muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove muffins from pan after 5 min. and cool on wire rack.
Makes 12 muffins

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 All rights reserved

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Bean Cookies Recipe

2010-04-10T12:57:00.004-04:00

I finally have new recipe for you. I just haven't been able to find the time to add recipes, I guess I am too busy cooking them. This is a wonderful cookie recipe that has a cake like taste. The beans add extra protein and the applesauce cuts down on the fat. the perfect cookie. Enjoy!

Wet ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup canned navy beans, rinsed well and pureed

4 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Sa ndra's Muffin mix or sorghum blend

1-1/2 teaspoons guar gum

2 tsp egg replacer

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon (1/4 tsp) salt

1 cup quick cooking rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°C (190°F).

Puree white pea beans in food processor (I usually puree the beans with the eggs).

Cream together butter, applesauce and sugars. Then mix in the pureed beans, eggs and.

Sift and mix well dry ingredients, then mix in the Oatmeal.

Beat in the dry ingredients to the bean mixture. Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop from spoon onto greased cookie sheets. These cookies do not spread at all, so you might want to smooch them down a bit for a flatter cookie. Bake in 375°F (190°C) oven for 12-14 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen

Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins recipe

2010-02-22T08:59:00.011-05:00

It's been awhile since I have added to my gluten-free blog. I have been adding new bead weaving patterns to my store website and trying to catch up with current patterns.

I am cooking everyday though and am working up new recipes. Just haven't had the time to tweak them and add them here, but I do have several new recipes coming up, a new jelly cookie, pancakes and a bread recipe that I use for not only bread but also pizza, hamburger buns, and sandwich flat-bread (our new favorite).

Today I am adding a Gluten-free Blueberry Muffin Recipe. Muffins are still our favorite lunch time carbs. They stay moist, travel well and they can be made fairly healthy. The gluten-free breads dry out too much by lunch time. The blueberry muffins are just sweet enough to keep any big or little kid happy. Enjoy!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dry Ingredients
1-3/4 cups Sandra's Muffin mix
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Egg Replacer (Ener-G)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Guar Gum

1 cup wild small Blueberries (I use frozen blueberries and microwave them for 45 seconds before using them) mixed with
1/3 cup Sugar

Wet ingredients
3/4 cup Milk mixed with
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 Egg
1/4 cup Canola oil
2 teaspoons Vanilla

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preheat oven to 400°F. Position rack in center of oven. Spray cups or paper liners with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together all the dry ingredients evenly.

In a small bowl mix the cup of blueberries with the sugar and then mix into the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl mix the milk with 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, let sit for about 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg, then add the remaining wet ingredients and finally the milk and lemon. Mix together.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter. Batter will be lumpy.

Using a heaping 1/4 cup, evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2010 All rights reserved

Gluten-Free Cornbread Recipe

2009-11-13T09:39:00.006-05:00

It's getting cold up here in Canada. Our favorite thing on a cold winter day is a big warm bowl of Chili. But now that our family is eating gluten-free, we can no longer add crackers to our chili. We have tried the rice crackers, but to us, they taste pretty crummy in the chili. So I have come up with this cornbread recipe that isn't a sweet cornbread. This cornbread is wonderful with chili. I like mine on the side and my husband likes his in the bottom of the bowl of chili.

Dry Ingredients
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup Sandra's Muffin mix
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1 teaspoon egg replacer

Wet Ingredients
1 egg
2/3 cup milk (or unsweetened soy milk) mixed with 1 teaspoon vinegar (let sit for 10 minutes to sour)
2 Tablespoons oil
------------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat oven to 400°F, spray 8” round cake pan with nonstick spray.

Stir together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, xanthan and egg replacer in a bowl until well combined.

In a separate bowl, Wisk together eggs, soy milk or water, oil & vinegar until combined.

Pour liquid ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients. Stir the mixture briskly with a fork until all the ingredients are just evenly moistened. Do not over stir, batter will be lumpy.

Pour all into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes, check with toothpick!

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2009 All rights reserved

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

2009-11-08T11:46:00.009-05:00

The twist in these muffins are the jars of baby food. They add moisture and a few more healthy ingredients.

Dry Ingredients
1-3/4 cups Sandra's Muffin mix
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons guar gum
2 teaspoons powder egg replacer (Ener-G)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 jar (4-1/2oz) apple and banana baby food
1 jar (4-1/2 oz) sweet potatoes baby food
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat oven to 400°F. Position rack in center of oven. Spray cups or paper liners with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg, then add the remaining wet ingredients and finally the chocolate chips. Mix together.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter.

Using a heaping 1/4 cup, evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2009 All rights reserved

Sandra's Gluten-Free Muffin Flour Mix recipe

2009-11-08T11:28:00.006-05:00

I wanted to come up with a flour mix for muffins that was healthier than the rice flour blends and that baked up nice in muffins. I have tried the Carol Fenster sorghum blend and Bette Hagman's Bean Flour Mix. Both mixes work well but I wanted to add even more fiber and heather grains too. There seems to be many flours in my mix, but I usually double the mix so I have plenty on hand without having to mix it up all the time.

1/2 cup Chick Pea Flour
1/2 cup Red Mill's Garbanzo & Fava Bean Flour or Garbanzo Flour
1/2 cup Quinoa Flour
1/2 cup Oat Flour (or teff flour)
1 cup Sorghum Flour
3 cups Tapioca Starch
1 1/2 cups Potato Starch
1 1/2 cups Corn Starch

Makes 9 cups

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2009 - 2010 All rights reserved

Sweet Potato Starch Bread, Gluten-Free Recipe

2009-10-31T12:48:00.010-04:00

This week in Ottawa we had a new Asian supermarket open called T&T. All I can say is Wow! They have anything and everything that you might be looking for Asian baking. One of the areas that I went to is the starches. They of course had Tapioca starch, Corn starch and Potato starch. But then I also found Sweet Potato starch and Water Chestnut flour. This bread recipe uses 1 cup of the Sweet potato starch. Next week I am going to try and make something with the Water Chestnut flour.

This recipe makes a bread that is soft and beautiful looking. I noticed a bit of after taste eating the bread fresh, but my husband and son thought it tasted great. I liked mine a day later toasted and with peanut butter.

Dry Ingredients
1 cup sorghum blend
1 cup potato starch
1 cup sweet potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons guar gum

Wet Ingredients
1 cup warm water, 110°
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2-1/4 teaspoons Bread Machine yeast
--------------------------------------------------
Warm you bread machine pan by putting hot tap water in the pan. I usually put my cold whole eggs in the pan too, to bring them to room temperature fast.

Meanwhile: measure out, mix and sift the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Set aside.

Empty the hot water from the bread machine pan, add all the liquid ingredients, including the sugar and salt to the bread machine pan. Whisk and mix.

Add your dry ingredients on top of the liquids and then the yeast on top of the dry, not touching the wet ingredients.

Set your bread machine to any cycle that starts kneading right away. You do not want your ingredients jut sitting there. Let the machine knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, scrapping down the side if needed. At this point you might need to add a little extra water if the dough seems to thick. I usually add about 2 extra Tablespoons. Your dough should be thicker than cake dough though, not as thin as most gluten-free bread doughs.

Place the dough in a 9" x 5" loaf pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray or coated with margarine. Shape the dough like a loaf. Slice a couple of slashes on top of the loaf. Do not cover the loaf if rising in the oven.

Put a pan of boiling water under the bread in the oven (bottom rack), and let the bread rise on the middle rack, for 15 minutes only when using the Bread Machine yeast.

Remove the pan of boiling water and turn oven to 400°. Bake bread for 30 minutes. Internal temperature of bread should be about 200°. Use a instant read thermometer.

Gluten-Free Banana Muffins Recipe

2009-10-30T06:27:00.006-04:00

These Banana Muffins are a favorite in our house. They freeze really well too. I put them in a baggy in the freezer and in the morning I take a couple out for my sons lunch. They travel much better than the gluten-free bread and don't dry out by lunch time.

Dry Ingredients
1-3/4 cup Sandra's Muffin mix
1/4 quinoa flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons guar gum
2 teaspoons powder egg replacer, I use Ener-G
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
3 large ripe bananas mashed (1-1/2 cups)
1 jar baby food prunes (4.5oz or 128ml)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup grape seed oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 Tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat oven to 350°F. Position rack in center of oven. Spray cups or paper liners with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, then add the mashed bananas, sugar and the remaining wet ingredients

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter.

Using a heaping 1/3 cup, evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter (the muffin cups will be full). Sprinkle sugar on top of the muffins (optional). Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2009-2010 All rights reserved

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Bread Recipe

2009-10-30T05:38:00.009-04:00

The Oatmeal Bread is our favorite morning toasting bread. It is wonderful with jam and even peanut butter. The bread is made by having the bread machine do all the kneading of the dough and then baking the bread in the oven. Simply letting your bread machine do most of the work for you.

Dry Ingredients
1 cup Sandra's Muffin mix
1-1/2 cups potato starch
1/2 cup oat flour*
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons guar gum

Wet Ingredients
1-1/4 cups milk warmed to 110°
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2-1/4 teaspoons Bread Machine yeast
--------------------------------------------------
Warm you bread machine pan by putting hot tap water in the pan. I usually put my cold whole eggs in the pan too, to bring them to room temperature fast.

Meanwhile: measure out, mix and sift the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Empty the hot water from the bread machine pan, add all the liquid ingredients, including the sugar and salt to the bread machine pan. Whisk and mix.

Add your dry ingredients on top of the liquids and then the yeast on top of the dry, not touching the wet ingredients.

Set your bread machine to any cycle that starts kneading right away. You do not want your ingredients jut sitting there. Let the machine knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, scrapping down the side if needed.

Put a pan of boiling water under the bread in the oven, using 2 oven racks, and let the bread rise there for 15 minutes only (optional). You can also just rise your bread in a warmed oven.

Remove the pan of boiling water and turn oven to 375° and bake your bread for 30 to 40 minutes

*Oat flour can be made by using your bender or food processor and grinding from Oatmeal.

Evelyn's Mocha Log Recipe, Gluten-Free

2009-10-22T11:38:00.008-04:00

Every Christmas my mother-in-law made this Mocha Log for desert. I am sorry to say she is no longer with us, but we wanted our children to enjoy part of what she left us. I have changed this recipe only slightly so it could be gluten-free and it turned out great. It was a great hit for thanksgiving. My son and I are going to make ice cream this weekend and we thought we would make the Mocha Log's filling with the ice cream instead of the whipping cream.

- Add 1 tablespoon sweet rice flour to a 1/4 measure, fill rest of 1/4 cup with “Gluten-Free Baking Classics” brown rice flour mix, page 6
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 cup fresh confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoon cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, add sugar, cocoa, salt and sift again.
In a separate bowls separate the egg whites and the egg yolks.
Beat the egg yolks well. Add the dry ingredients and vanilla to yolks and beat again.
In a separate large bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the egg yolk mixture and gently blend well without breaking down the egg whites.

Pour into greased, parchment paper, and greased again jelly-roll pan,

15 x 10 x 1 inch Bake in moderate oven at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly pressed.

Turn cake out onto a new piece of parchment paper, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, peel off baking paper. Roll up cake, and sprinkle the other side of the parchment paper while rolling up, then cool on rack.

Filling
- 2 cups cream for whipping
- 1/8 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff in a large bowl. Unroll cake carefully; spread evenly with half of the cream mixture; re-roll.

Frosting
- Cream 3 tablespoons butter
- Blend in 3 tablespoons cocoa
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat until creamy. Frost cake and sprinkle with chocolate curls. Chill roll 1 hour, or until serving time.

Oatmeal Bread recipe coming soon

2009-10-07T14:33:00.002-04:00

I am always looking for a way to make my bread recipes a little more healthier. In a couple of days I will have my recipe for Oatmeal bread ready. This bread makes great toast for several days after it's baked.

Expandex modified tapioca starch?

2009-08-18T18:38:00.001-04:00

Expandex modified tapioca starch, what the heck is that?
It is a new product that is used in the book 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes by Carol Fenster. I wrote to the author and this is the email I received back.

Sandra, Go to www.expandexglutenfree.com to see where to buy it. You may have to mail-order it. There is no substitute, but you can make every recipe in the book without (except Graham Crackers) by following the directions for using Carol’s Sorghum Blend instead of the Expandex. --Carol Fenster

The drawback on this book is as far as I can tell Expandex is not being distributed in Canada. I would like to try it, to see if it is even worth it, but this is the problem that I have run in to.

I did find an online place that will ship to Canada. For 16 oz, the retail cost is $4.99, good price, but get this, the shipping is $20.00. I thought well maybe I could save on shipping and order 10 packages, well then the shipping goes up to $35.00. And I am not even sure if it works yet or if I will like how it works. Also, I know it does not cost that much to ship to Canada, so who is making a big profit on this.

The recipes so far that I have made without it seem to be working OK. On one of the recipes I substituted sweet rice for the Expnadex and seemed to work well.

If any one finds a Canadian source for this product, please let me know!

Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe

2009-08-09T10:28:00.012-04:00

Today I worked on a new muffin recipe. My son loves chocolate chips, so I created this recipe for muffins that are chocolate and also uses chocolate chips. He misses the muffins that we used to get from Tim Hortons. Well today he said these were the best muffins he ever tasted. They baked like mile high muffins were they puffed over the edge while baking. They are not as big as the muffins that you get at restaurants, but they look and taste really good. I wanted to cut down on the fat a bit so I used the baby food prunes.

Wet ingredients
1 cup milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon cider Vinegar
2 large eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup baby food prunes

Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups Sandra's Muffin mix
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoon egg replacer
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter, or line with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup milk with the 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar. Let sit about 10 minutes. Next whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract and finally whisk in the baby prunes and melted butter.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together all the dry ingredients, stir in the 1 cup of chocolate chips.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter.

Using a heaping 1/3 cup, evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter (the muffin cups will be full). Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 - 30 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Sandra D. Halpenny © 2009 - 2010 All rights reserved

Tortilla Notes

2009-08-07T16:03:00.002-04:00

Just a short note about cooking tortillas, don’t over bake the tortillas or they will not be soft. Use sweet rice flour for dusting either your plastic pieces or counter top before rolling your tortillas.

The picture below shows the plastic pieces that I use for rolling out the tortillas. I purchased them from the dollar store and they were sold in packages of 2 and marked as cutting boards. They are extremely thin and flexible.

Please note, in the picture I put the plastic pieces on a towel just so you could see them better, it’s easier just working on the counter top.

Gluten Free Tortilla Recipe

2009-08-07T12:56:00.003-04:00

When our family first went gluten-free one of the things we missed other than a good loaf of bread, were Tortillas. I have been experimenting and trying to make a recipe for about 6 months now. I have tried many different flour mixes including Four Flour Bean and Featherlight mix by Bette Hagman. I also tried the brown Rice mix by Annalise G. Roberts and the Sorghum flour mix by Carol Fenster. All worked OK but not great. So the recipe below is the one that I have finally worked out. One of the problems I still have is the first Tortilla usually turns out good, but as my table top griddle cools down, the tortilla doesn’t rise as the first one does. Next time I am going to cook one at a time in my cast iron pan, I might even buy a Comal and see if I get better results. But I don’t think I will be making them every week because of the work and time involved.

In regards to the lard I used, I have tried substituting shortening and/or oil, both don’t work as well. I figure if I was going to be eating them everyday, then I might worry, but once a month should be OK for my cholesterol.

Here is a great YouTube video on making tortillas;
Jason Hill makes it seem so easy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Yx-auWEdM
here is his website too: http://www.cookingsessions.com/

My Gluten Free Tortilla Recipe
1 cup tapioca starch
1 cup brown rice flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water plus up to 4 Tablespoons
2 Tablespoon lard

Sift and mix well the rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum and baking powder.

Add lard. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Dissolve the salt in 1/2 cup warm water, and then add to your flour mixture a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. Start with the 1/2 cup of water, then add 1 tablespoon at a time. Knead for 1 minute, adding tapioca starch or small amounts of lukewarm water if needed. The dough should not be too wet or dry.

Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, and coat your hands with a bit of lard or shortening. Flatten and cover balls with plastic wrap and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

To prepare the tortillas, preheat a griddle over medium heat. Remove a flattened ball and roll it into a circle. Turn the dough around after each stroke with the rolling pin. Roll as thin as possible. I have tried a tortilla press, but I can never get the tortillas thin enough.
For rolling out my tortillas I like to put the dough between the plastic sheets that I got at the dollar store. It makes picking them up easier.

Cook your tortillas turning every 15 to 20 seconds until they start to get brown spots. Hopefully too, they should start to puff up as you are cooking them.Right after the tortillas are cooked I put them in the Tortilla Warmer, which keeps them warm, soft and moist.

Bread machine Yeast

2009-08-06T12:17:00.001-04:00

For all my yeast baking, I always use bread machine yeast. I also always use my bread machine for mixing and kneading of the dough whether I bake in the oven or in the machine, even if the recipe says to use a mixer. When putting the ingredients into the machine pan, I put the liquids in first which include the sugar and salt, then the gluten-free flour mix and finally I put the yeast on top of the flour not touching the liquids. When using milk powder, that also goes on top on the edge not touching the yeast.

When using the bread machine yeast, usually I only have to raise the bread or buns covered in a warm place for about 15 minutes. While baking the bread or buns, they will rise even more while cooking.

Cooking Gluten-free

2009-08-06T12:06:00.000-04:00

After seeing the trailer on the movie Julie & Julia, I thought what a great idea! I do a lot of Gluten free baking. I have good luck and bad luck with some of the recipes that are available. I have also written several recipes by converting some of my favorite recipes into gluten free. So I decided to start this blog so I can share some of my experiences with the recipes I work on. I probably will not be at the blog daily, but when I work on something new, I will write if the recipe worked and if I had to make any changes to the recipe to make it work better. I will also be adding some of my own recipes when I write a new one that tastes good.

I have a couple of favorite cook books right now, The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread by Bette Hagman, Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts and my newest favorite 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes by Carol Fenster. What I really like so far about the 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes is that the author does not use as much rice flour, but uses a lot of Sorghum flour. I sometimes get an upset stomach from too much rice flour, so it's great to have some recipes that use Sorghum flour.

One of my favorite recipes so far in the 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes is the White Sandwich Yeast Bread, page 85. I have used the recipe in my bread machine, also used a bread pan and baked in the oven, have made hamburger buns, rising them with boiling water as suggested in the her hamburger buns recipe, page 107, and pizza crusts. The only change I have made in the recipe so far is that instead of 3 eggs whites, I use one whole egg and 1 egg white.

When I am making hamburger buns I usually make 4 buns and 2 small pizza crusts at the same time. I rise them on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I then use the hamburger buns that evening and freeze the pizza crusts for later use. I freeze the pizza crusts while they are still slightly warm in a plastic bag.