Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Bagels

This was my second attempt at GF bagels – I wasn’t convinced I got it quite right the first go around. This time they turned out awesome and I think I’ve figured out a few ways to make them even better!

This book is my go to for any kind of bread. Nothing short of awesome. I used “Aunt Sarah’s” bagel recipe. The biggest thing is to allow the dough to mix on high for the time the recipe calls for; I didn’t take that seriously last time and was disappointed the bagels didn’t turn out very hearty.

I also let the bagels rise longer than the recipe called for. They were wonderfully fluffy! Next time I might let them rise for about 2 hours instead of just one and see if I can get them even bigger!

The key to the bagel texture is boiling each bagel for at least a minute before baking. In between boiling and baking I topped each bagel with sea salt and sesame seeds. I want to learn how to toast garlic and onions and add them along with poppy seeds to make real “everything” bagels!

The most frustrating thing about Gluten Free breads is that they stale almost immediately. I am storing the bagels in the freezer and each morning I stick on in the oven at 400 degrees (the temperature they were baked at) until it is nice and soft and fluffy again. Top it with some whipped cream cheese and I’m a happy girl (I tend to use a lot less of this stuff than of regular cream cheese)!

Being able to have a bagel is awesome. Bagels were one of the most wonderful things about living in the New York City area and they were one of the hardest things to give up moving to Nevada, never mind going Gluten Free!

Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

I’ll admit right off the bat, I used a box Chocolate Chip cookie mix. For some reason I haven’t been able to get cookies from scratch down very well, so I’m content to let someone else do most of the work for now.

First I made a bunch of cookies. And then sampled them to make sure they were acceptable.

I put a 1/2 gallon of Vanilla Bean ice cream in the microwave at 40% for 30 seconds and it became perfectly soft to spread on a cookie.

Then I sandwiched it and forced myself not to eat one. I’m all about quality assurance.

Mmmm…not sure when I’ll let myself dive in, but these little suckers are hanging out in the freezer til then!

Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

It’s only taken me over a month to finally write this post, haha! It’s worth the wait though because Red Velvet whoopie pies are my new favorite treat!

I use the recipe from Gluten Free Betty and prefer Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Mix. I tried the all purpose mix on GF Betty’s site this time and did not like how crumbly the cookies turned out.

At first I forgot to add the xanthan gum and the batter got too warm, so this first batch spread out to cover the entire baking sheet! After adding xanthan gum and refrigerating, the rest were more fluffy.

Yum! I use the filling from Better Homes and Gardens. If you just glanced at the recipe and saw that it’s marshmallow fluff, butter, and cream cheese, you are correct to react with disgust. It sounds horrible, but tastes like a fluffy cloud. I imagine clouds taste sweet and creamy like this filling (the scientist in me wants to remind you that clouds are simply water vapor).

These were the whoopie pies the first time I made them for the Nerd Party. Much fluffier and more moist. Since I think the difference was the flour mixture, I’ll be going back to the Featherlight mix.

Miscellany Monday: GF Labeling and No Spend Months

 

It’s technically a Tuesday, but school just started back today, so it feels like a Monday. I’ve only got a few things in today’s post because these two things are heavy on my mind at the moment.

.No Spend Months.

I smiled when I read Jess’s post today about their “No Spend Month” this January to help pay off some loans. I’m doing a modified version of this as well. I have banned myself from spending any money on me. My “mad money” and clothing budgets will go untouched this January and I will not be using gift cards either. I suppose that makes it more of a “No Acquire More Stuff Month” – the idea is that I will not think so much about what I want (or even need), but be open to what God wants to give me this month. Three days down, 28 to go!

.Gluten Free Labeling.

Rachel at Finding Joy has been a huge encouragement to me in learning how to eat, bake, shop GF since her little boy was diagnosed with Celiac this past year.  You have to read her letter to food manufacturers about GF food labeling procedures. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Through some trial and error I am starting to realize how much gluten I can tolerate at a time. Items manufactured in the same factory as wheat products don’t seem to bother me, but I definitely got “glutened” over Christmas and it was not pretty. I don’t even know what did it to me. Hence, my love for Rachel’s letter? Please consider learning more about GF labeling to help those of us who get sick when we’ve eaten something that hasn’t been properly labeled!

 

.GF Sourdough.

Brenda the Breadmaker is hard at work – will post soon on hour my first GF Sourdough turns out!

Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I’ve been insanely busy lately, so I’ve had no time (or occasions) to try new recipes! I was baking several gluten-filled batches of my favorite cookie ever, so I decided to try and tweak it to be GF and it worked!

I simply substituted the 1C wheat flour with 1C Featherlight Mix (can be bought at Wholefoods or Amazon). They tasted a little off because I slightly burned the chocolate, but other than that I could not tell the difference between the regular and GF versions!!

Three cheers for another success!!

Miscellany Monday 12/5

So much going on! Hope you enjoy the ramblings…

.nutella hot chocolate.

As I was reading through lowercase letters’ post today, I was amazed at the thought of nutella hot chocolate. You know what I’m making tonight. Yup, that’s right.

.ravioli from scratch.

I used my new pasta maker for the first time last night. I made GF pumpkin ravioli – it turned out okay, but the pasta was definitely too thick. Next time I’ll probably try a more basic filling and focus on getting the pasta just right!

.poinsettia.

Keith bought be a poinsettia Friday. I love it. It’s beautiful. It now adorns our table.

.sleeping bag.

When my in-laws were here over Thanksgiving, they had quite a bit of L.L.Bean Bucks left over and so they bought us a sleeping bag to go with the one we got over the summer; they paid a whopping $0.57 and wouldn’t let us reimburse them, haha. Well, I LOVE it! Keith got the basic blue one with our name embroidered on the storage bag, so I got the teal with lime green on the inside!

.gifts under the tree.

Speaking of fun new toys, our Christmas tree is now working full time – it’s full of gifts! My in-laws took most of the gifts back East with them after Thanksgiving so we wouldn’t have to stress too much, but there’s still plenty of fun here! Can’t wait to give all those fun presents!

.songs of christmas.

Have you visited the blog party yet? I’m having some issues with the linky. On some computers, the links show up and on others they don’t. Either way, you should check out the party!!

.nightmare before christmas.

I haven’t seen the movie since it first came out, but it is the theme of our Winter Ball and 2nd Quarter Spirit Week. I’ll be posting my awesome outfits each day. Today was a little lame (just a Santa hat), but the rest of the week promises to make up for it!

image from google.com search

  .sushi.

Do you have any idea how affectionate I am towards sushi? Let’s just say that if there were no other food on earth I would be totally satisfied with the rice-y, salty, veggie-filled goodness from Japan. My favorite is the Philadelphia roll (usually salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and/or cucumber). I’ve been craving it all day (like a do at least once a week) and decided to whip some up for dinner. My trusty rice cooker makes it so much easier – how is she my only beloved appliance without a name?! I finally figured out how to get the rice on the outside (after creeping on the guy at my favorite Sushi joint the other day) and filled it with avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese. I’m still to afraid to find sushi-grade salmon!

Notice how I forgot to flip the last one and the rice got stuck on the inside - oops?!

Well, there it is another Monday! Have you checked out the latest Songs of Christmas post yet?

Gluten Free Thanksgiving

It’s been a relatively successful Gluten Free Thanksgiving! I’m thankful that I can still eat yummy food even if I can’t have wheat :)

The table settings were a last minute organizational decision, but I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Ham & Pickle Rolls are my all time favorite Thanksgiving snacking food!

I basted the turkey in veggie oil, butter, rosemary, and thyme. I did not baste it during cooking so it turned out super moist :)

Yum, can't get enough!

Sweet potatoes with candied pecans

Mushroom Souffle

Sauted asparagus with rosemary

Cranberry sauce from scratch

Ana brough sweet potato fries - so wonderful!!

Gravy is always awesome. I used rice flower as a thickener, so it was GF too!

Cornbread Stuffing - the GF cornbread was a bit dry, but for the purposes of stuffing it turned out alright.

The pumpkin pie cooked really weird - it took forever, so lost a lot of its taste. I'll have to try this one again and cook it more gradually starting hot and then lowering the temperature.

Apple Pie - GF crust was dry and hard, but not horrible for a first try.

Nothing finishes off Thanksgiving dinner as well as tea in my Keep Calm mug.

Thankfulness takes the sting out of adversity. That is why I have instructed you to give thanks for everything. There is an element of mystery in this transaction: You give Me thanks (regardless of your feelings), and I give you Joy (regardless of your circumstances). This is a spiritual act of obedience – at times, blind obedience. To people who don’t know Me intimately, it can seem irrational and even impossible to thank Me for heartredning hardships. Nonetheless, those who obey Me in this way are invariably blessed, even though difficulties may remain.

Thankfulness opens your heart to My Presence and your mind to My thoughts. You may still be in the same place, with the same set of circumstances, but it is as if a light has been switched on, enabling you to see from My perspective. It is this Light of My Presence that removes the sting from adversity.

Written by Sarah Young

Inspired by Ephesians 5:20; Psalm 118:1; and Psalm 89:15

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Misadventures In Gluten Free Baking: Rosemary Bread (take two)

I finally gave Rosemary Bread another shot. It was significantly more successful, so I’m 3-2; a winning record!

In Brenda, ready to bake.

I was so excited that it looked like a real loaf of bread - I didn't even stop to take my purse or shoes off before tasting it!

It was actually pretty good. Needs more salt next time, but a good start!

We enjoyed the bread with mushroom sauce over gnocchi and fried asparagus for dinner tonight!

Yay for a GF success! Read more about my Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking!

 

Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now that my confidence is building, I attempted Chocolate Chip Cookies using Alton Brown’s recipe.

Dough seems to look like cookie dough (much thicker and stiffer) and tastes something like cookie dough.

My little helper :)

Ready to go in the oven (non GF apple pie in the background)

Hey - those are cookies!

I call this a definite success! They taste almost like regular chocolate chip cookies, with a slightly nutty flavor. I think it has something to do with the flour mixture I’m using. And the dough chills very well, so this gives me hope of eating cookie dough ice cream again one day!

On a side note, I was baking at a friends house, so I do not own the puggle or the silicone baking mats, but if she’s ever willing to part with either, I’d gladly take them :)

I’m 2-2 now! Almost have a winning streak!

Misadventures in Gluten Free Baking: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I started freaking out about not perfecting GF baking yet and we’re hosting Community Group tomorrow night, so I jumped in all the way and attempted Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

I found the recipe for the cookies on MyKidsMake.com and the filling from A Baking Life.

This was a really nerve-wracking process since my last two baking attempts were such failures, so I took pictures along the way just in case I had to review each step in the event of another catastrophe.

Dry ingredients.

Dough complete.

In the oven.

Delicious pumpkin cookies!

Okay, so honestly, I haven’t made the filling yet, but just looking at those ingredients I know it’s going to be a winner. Yay for success!!!