Easy Gluten-Free Baguettes

How to make a rustic, easy gluten-free baguette.

Why do you always crave the things you can't have? 

Is it because desire dims upon acquisition? Is it the crusty chestnut that the chase is more interesting than the catch? Do we simply take for granted the things we hold, the things we use, the things we eat, day after day? Familiarity breeds perhaps not contempt but a subtle numbness. We slowly turn off to the everyday beauty, the generosity of the simple luxuries in our life. It seems to me a form of forgetting. A spiritual amnesia that coaxes us into believing we want what we don't have. And we neglect to appreciate what we do possess.

Which brings me, I'm sorry to say, not to any esoteric mystery, but. To bread.

here's why. While I do - truly - appreciate (and have, for years) the convenience and kind-to-my-tummy nutrition that an organic brown rice cake offers me as a humble, gluten-impaired celiac, I frankly admit that it is difficult to conjure any semblance of passion, or for that matter, what I would describe as desire, for this go-to celiac snack food. Yes, these foamy chewy discs have saved my life on more than one occasion. Yes, I keep a bag of them in the car at all times. Just in case. And yes, I am grateful for their existence on this fragile planet.

But I have never daydreamed about rice cakes.

I have never painted Still Life with Rice Cake.

Or written a poem about one.

Though come to think of it, I have photographed a rice cake. In the car. With my iPhone.

It does sport a  certain beauty all it's own it. In its own quirky, ricey way.

But it's not a baguette. It's not a rustic, crusty, warm from the oven loaf of golden goodness. It doesn't go with wine. And it's not a good match with garlicky olive tapenade. So as much as my bruised and enlightened heart can embrace a rice cake and accept my gluten-free fate in a quasi-Zen go with the flow sorta way, there is a longing I have nurtured for the last eight gluten-free years. A deep, unfulfilled desire.

The truth is, Darling- I miss a long, slender, warm, fresh baguette.

Now don't get all Freudian on me. I'm still talking about bread here. And as far as bread goes, we gluten-free folks have much to appreciate. Even revel in. There's this recipe for delicious gluten-free bread. And this multigrain recipe with cornmeal kick to it. We're no longer as deprived as our earlier, last century celiac counterparts in the bread department. We can make cheese sandwiches.

But lately I've been dreaming of the continental culinary jewel known as the baguette. A mainstay in every student's romance repertoire (if you were an art student, especially; if you majored in accounting or football, the allure of a blanket, baguette, a bottle of wine and thou may not have blipped on your radar screen, and that's truly a shame and a deficit you ought to repair this very minute- go!). And not only dreaming. I've been actively craving an olive tapenade and the classic vehicle to smear it on.

So I experimented with what I had on hand- a bag of Pamela's Wheat-Free Gluten-Free Bread Mix. I could have mixed my own flours, it's true. But it was late in the day when the burning desire hit. And Yours Truly just wanted to whip up a pre-dinner rendezvous comestible.

To quench my unbridled yearning.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Make Gluten-Free Brownie Cupcakes with Namaste Baking Mix

Easy brownie cupcakes from a mix.

Check out these fudgy little gems. Chocolate chip brownies dressed up like cupcakes. These are Steve's creation. He's the resident brownie expert. I bow to his expertise. He's baked brownies from scratch. He's tried all the gluten-free mixes. He's added flavors. Coffee. Peppermint. Vanilla. He's added extra chocolate chips. Chopped walnuts. Pecans. Even raisins. He bakes brownies weekly. But lately he's got a new twist to this favorite classic treat. He plops the batter into a cupcake liner clad muffin tin. Steve swears this creates a better, moister brownie.

Gluten-free brownie cupcakes cooling on a wire rack.

Steve used the Namaste Gluten-Free Brownie Mix for these  chocolaty bundles of goodness. He used three organic free-range eggs, and light olive oil as the fat. He added 3/4 cup chocolate chips. They baked up in roughly 40 minutes. The mix yielded 14 brownie-cupcakes.

Although it's very un-Zen of me to say, and possibly un-PC to the slow food foodies out there, they're perfect for a grab-n-go treat. Ready when you are. Compact. Chocolate. Boom. Wrap them in recycled foil, bag, and freeze. 

Karina's note:

This post is not a sponsored review of the Namaste mix (which we purchased ourselves); it's simply the baking mix Steve currently uses. And they looked so pretty today I couldn't resist grabbing the camera.

In the past we did a Gluten-Free Brownie Mix Taste Test- check it out if you're interested in how brownie mixes compared under scrutiny and fierce personal preferences in the Allrich household.

More:

Check out Sensitive Pantry's Spiced Up Chocolate Cupcakes

Enjoy sugary treats in moderation. Gluten-Free Goddess advises consuming no more than 2 tablespoons of sugar a day. 

Gluten-Free Banana "Crumpets"

Split and grill these sweet no yeast "crumpets" for extra flavor.

I started out craving a scone. Then it turned into a crumpet. Not a traditional crumpet. A crumpet without yeast. And sweet. Not because I have anything against yeast (I dig my English Muffins bigtime), but because I had a bevy of ripe bananas hanging out on my kitchen counter, whispering to me, coaxing me to imagine a new recipe and highlight their fragrant banana awesomeness. So that's how it all started.

But I was low on gluten-free flours.

Warning: Here's the part of the story where I am destined to offend anti-baking mix purists- you know, those Healthier Than Thou commenters who stop by like clockwork to remind me of the horror of potato starch. And sugar. And fat. They have only my best interest at heart, of course. Nothing less than my weak and sinful soul. The soul that craves chocolate for breakfast. And harbors an abiding crush on Keanu Reeves.

Well now that I've slipped from grace- again- because, yes, Darling, I used a gluten-free baking mix for the base of my crumpet recipe- I am sure to provoke at least one prim display of gluten-free piety and indignation such as-- and I quote-- The spark is now gone. I thought you should know. I will never return.

And this, Dear Reader, brought to mind a story. And a true one at that.

Chapter 3

The litany of, "How dark she was! Her hair stuck up like some Fiji island baby," was repeated through blue tinted smoke in a graveled growl betraying the years of Lucky Strikes sucked and crushed in the bottle-green ashtray pitted like a dime store fish.

The back-combed ash blond women planted around the table like molded wax tulips might glisten and nod toward her (or not) and resume their conversation- how clean or filthy a neighbor’s house was.

"You could eat off her floor," defined their Catholic imagination. 

"She’s a saint," confirmed the insight via a lipstick conserving sip. 

A pan-Formica flutter from a bee-hived believer in Easter shell pink nodded her agreement, her sugar-white crucifix reclining on her Playtex bosom. 

Immaculate.

The girl knew right then, well before the age of reason, she was from a planet different, smudged and shadowed even at noon, invisibly tattooed with no blue-eyed leg-up or corn silk angel hair like they coveted and wrestled from those curvy blue bottles.

She understood in her mute wren bones that darkness equaled other in this platinum dipped half acre- this house of buried Yiddish and abandoned suitcase clues, where roots and Kaddish were dissolved in peroxide and the strains of Danny Boy hummed by Irish husbands who were tussled with like naughty children hiding in untied shoes behind the claw-footed sofa peeling the gold off chocolate gelt as tedium plumed in kielbasa steam to the smell of eggs hard-boiled so long the yolk membranes turned green.

Shown served warm from the oven- split and toast for crumpet-style.

Sweet Banana Faux Crumpets

By Karina Allrich March 2010.

I made these tasty little crumpety numbers without eggs or butter - to keep them vegan and dairy-free. They are delicious warm from the oven as shown-- but truly sublime when sliced in half and grilled in a touch of olive oil till golden. Or toast them up and drizzle with agave or schmear with peanut butter- or Sunbutter.

I made these faux crumpets using a gluten-free mix for my flour blend- Gluten-Free Pantry Muffin and Scone Mix- because I wanted to experiment with a basic gluten-free flour mix (I bought the mix myself, and have no financial interest in the company). If you want to experiment using a different muffin and scone mix, you'll need to match the dry ingredients; the ounces on this package are 15 oz (425g). The leavened mix contains white rice flour, sugar, potato starch, baking powder, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with an Exopat or parchment paper, and eight English muffin rings (I used these handy rings here).

In a mixing bowl, add:

1 box Gluten-Free Pantry Muffin and Scone Mix

1/3 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening

Cut in the shortening using a KitchenAid mixer with a wire whisk attachment or pastry cutter until the mixture looks sandy.

Add in:

2 medium size mashed ripe bananas (almost one cup)

1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 2 tablespoons warm water till frothy (or 1 free-range organic egg and use 1/4 cup less banana)

The batter will be sticky and lumpy.

Slowly add in:

2-4 tablespoons vanilla rice milk, as needed

Mix the batter until smooth. It will be sticky.

Spoon the batter into the eight English muffin rings. Using wet fingers pat and smooth the crumpets.

Note: The batter will not reach the very edge of the rings- there was some space around each crumpet. If you'd like maximum size crumpets, use only six rings.

Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven for about 18 to 20 minutes till firm. Brush the tops with a little bit of rice milk and bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes until slightly golden.

Remove from the oven and serve soft and warm with raw organic agave, honey or Sunbutter.

Or...

Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in recycled foil, bag, and freeze.

Thaw. Slice crumpets in half. Grill in a skillet with a dab of olive oil till golden and hot.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

Lovely and classic gluten-free carrot cake 

with coconut, iced with lemon cream cheese frosting.

Karina's Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe with Coconut and Cream Cheese Icing

Recipe posted June 2006.

Once in a blue moon I get a hankering for this old school classic. Lucky for me it translates well to gluten free. This recipe is based on one of my own [pre-gluten free] standbys. I changed it very little, except for the flour.

Please note: This recipe has no added leavening because it is using a leavened baking and pancake mix.

Ingredients:

3 large organic free-range eggs

1/2 cup light vegetable oil or Spectrum Organic Shortening

1 cup organic light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup plain yogurt or coconut yogurt

2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey or agave (for added moisture)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice, or Apple Pie Spice [or a mix of nutmeg, clove, ginger, allspice]

2 cups Pamela's Gluten-Free Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix *see notes

3/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1 1/2 cups processed or finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)

1/2 cup golden raisins or currants

1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch Springform cake pan.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs; add the oil and beat; add the brown sugar and beat till smooth. Beat in the yogurt, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and spice. Add in the baking mix and beat till combined. The batter should be a bit thicker than wheat flour batter. Add in the coconut, carrots, raisins and nuts; stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan; and place the pan in the center of a preheated oven. Bake until the cake is firm, and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean, about 40 to 45 minutes or longer if necessary - I baked mine at high altitude. Cool on a wire rack.

Frost with your favorite cream cheese icing and sprinkle with coconut, if desired.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

4 oz. softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste
3 cups powdered cane sugar- or more, if needed

A squeeze or two of fresh citrus, to taste- lemon, lime or orange

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla. Add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time; squeeze a little lemon or other citrus juice into the frosting and beat till smooth. Taste test. Add more sugar, if needed, to thicken; add more juice to thin.

Frost the cake.

Makes one nine inch cake.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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Karina's Notes:

For replacing Pamela's Baking Mix, I used to say just try another leavened GF baking mix or GF pancake mix- but I no longer believe all GF mixes/GF flour blends behave the same way. You'll need to experiment.

Gluten free cakes tend to dry out quickly. If you are not serving this cake the day you bake it, I'd advise chilling it to firm up the icing; wrap well and chill. For more than a day ahead, I would wrap and freeze it; thaw the day of serving (remove the wrap so the icing doesn't stick!) and served slightly chilled.

 

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Coffee Cake- and a love story

Winter in Northern New Mexico- my view.

First, the love part.

It's been snowy, windy, cold- you name it. From all the tweets I've been reading over on Twitter lately, I'm not alone. Far from it. This has been one crazy snowy month. So what does a gluten-free goddess do when she gets stuck in the middle of the desert with no buckwheat flour, no sorghum, and no four-wheel drive? (Note to self- if you're going to live in rural Northern New Mexico, Darling, a cute and thrifty little Honda Fit won't cut it.)

Snowed in and hungry she does the only sensible thing.

She scans the pantry and pulls out a Whole Foods gluten-free cake mix and starts stirring things up. She starts imagining dirt bombs. And bakes up a coffee cake worthy of the winter holidays.

The love part of the story?

READ MORE and get the recipe ...