Cinnamon Bundt Cake

 

Don’t you love the feeling of fall in the air?  The smell of the cinnamon brooms as you walk into the grocery story always entices me.  This past weekend I decided to try my hand at a cinnamon bundt cake and it was delicious.  The cake was very moist and so easy to make.  I was disappointed with the icing glaze recipe that was listed with the cake.  I followed the instructions, but my glaze was clear and disappeared into the cake so I served mine with a little sweetened whipped cream too.  I’m adding a different glaze recipe to this that should work better.

 

Ingredients

For the Cake

• ¾ cup sorghum flour
• ¾ cup potato starch
• ½ cup tapioca starch
• 1¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ teaspoons cinnamon (Vietnamese if you have it)
• ⅓ cup butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk or 1Tablespoon vinegar + milk to = 1 cup

For the Glaze

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 c confectioners sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

1. In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients.
2. In your mixer bowl, beat the butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again.
3. Add the dry ingredients and milk alternately in fourths, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix well, scraping the bottom of the bowl to be sure the butter is incorporated.
4. Spoon the batter into a sprayed or greased bundt pan.
5. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
7. Melt butter for glaze and then add the rest of glaze ingredients.  Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

 

 

Gluten Free Empanadas

 

We took a trip to Puerto Rico this weekend in our kitchen with beef empanadas, beans and rice and a plantain puree.  The food was really delicious.  I was especially pleased with how well this gluten-free dough held together.  The dough is made with a little white wine, but don’t worry the alcohol cooks out before you make the dough.   I can see this dough recipe being used to make apple cinnamon empanadas in the future.

Ingredients

• ½ cup dry white wine (e.g., Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay)
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening
• 2 cups high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or cream (low-fat is fine, nonfat is not, nondairy substitute is fine)

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, place the wine, water, butter and shortening and stir to combine. Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is simmering (about 3 to 4 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and dump in the flour and xanthan gum. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together (it will happen quickly). Add the milk/cream by the tablespoonful, and knead into the dough until it is smooth.
2. Turn the dough out onto a smooth surface and knead until fairly smooth. Do NOT flour the kneading surface.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for an hour. This is an important step.
4. After the dough has rested, roll until it is about ⅛-inch thick (the width of a nickel), and use a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or smaller or larger, if you prefer) to cut into rounds.

Notes

Bean flour blends are not true all-purpose gluten-free flours. Pamela’s baking mix and Pamela’s bread mix are not all-purpose gluten-free flours, nor were they meant to be. They have all sorts of additional ingredients, like baking powder, baking soda and sugar, and then yeast and sugar, respectively. Yes, you really do need the wine for flavor. It’s worth opening a bottle.

Fill with your favorite filling.  Our beef filling recipe is below.

Empanada Filling
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
Oil or shortening, for frying

Aioli Dip:
1/2 cup real mayonnaise, such as Kraft
1/2 tablespoon adobo sauce
Juice of 1/4 lime

For the empanada filling: In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and garlic salt and cook until the beef is cooked completely. Drain the grease and set the beef aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the tomato paste, vinegar, cumin, chili powder, oregano, seasoned salt, garlic, bell peppers and onions. Cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the beef and let them love each other with fire over low heat for about 5 more minutes. The mixture should be moist but not dripping wet. Now you are ready to fill the empanadas.
Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Fry the empanadas until golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes.

For the aioli dip: Mix together the mayonnaise, adobo sauce and lime juice. (The flavor will enhance if it sits in the refrigerator.)

Irish Coffee Cupcakes

I hope everyone enjoyed their St. Patricks Day.  I made some really yummy dishes.  Two of them are certainly blog-worthy.  This is the dessert I served and if you love the flavor of coffee you can enjoy this cupcake year round.  The only thing I did differently was I added some homemade chocolate buttercream around the top of the cupcake and put the whipped cream topping in the middle.  I thought the chocolate addition would be a tasty added treat.

 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
2 tablespoons good Irish Whiskey (I used Bushmills)
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder – use divided
½ cup white rice flour (preferably finely milled)
¼ cup sweet rice flour (preferably finely milled)
¼ cup potato starch (not potato flour)
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup ½ half and half, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons confectioners sugar (add more to taste if needed)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

In a small saucepan, stir together the granulated sugar and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 1 minute. Take off the heat and whisk in 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder. Stir in the whiskey and let cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the white rice flour, sweet rice flour, potato and tapioca starches, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and remaining 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed until fluffy, 2 – 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add half the flour mixture, then the half and half and finally the rest of the flour mixture. Blend until almost all the flour is mixed in. Add the vanilla and mix. With a large spatula, finish mixing the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then spoon coffee whiskey mixture over cupcakes.  Let cool completely for 30 minutes and then whip cream with 2 tsp of sugar to swirl on top.

 

**This is the chocolate buttercream recipe I used from Savory Sweet Life**

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3½ cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Instructions

1. Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

 

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

You have got to try these biscuits!  They are flaky, buttery and no one would know they are gluten-free.  I saw this recipe at Gluten Free on a Shoestring and had to try them out.  I was not disappointed and this will be my go-to biscuit recipe from now on.  You can modify this recipe by adding various cheeses, diced ham, scallions, etc. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c gluten-free all purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1 c extra-sharp cheddar cheese

2 T bacon grease (chilled and chopped – I just poured in some cooled bacon grease and it worked fine)

6 T unsalted butter diced and chilled

1 large egg, kept cold

1 c buttermilk (or use 1 c milk and stir in 1 T white wine vinegar to get the same effect)

• Preheat oven to 425F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  In a large bowl, combined flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk to combine and then set aside.  In a small bowl combine grated cheese and 1 T of flour mixture.  Toss to combine.  Add bacon grease and diced butter to large bowl of dry ingredients and cut in fat using a pastry blender until it resembles small peas.  Add grated cheese mixture and mix to combine.  Add egg and buttermilk and whisk with a fork to distribute egg.  Mix everything with a spoon until dough comes together and then wrap in plastic wrap.  You can chill in the freezer for 15-20 minutes or in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or overnight if you prefer.  Remove chilled dough and flatten into a disc.  Dust counter and rolling pin with additional flour.  Dust dough with small amount of flour if it appears sticky.  Roll out to 1-inch thickness and cut using a biscuit cutter.  Gather up scaps and reroll.  Place biscuits one inch apart on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Ode to the Clove – Garlic Breadsticks

 

Ode to the Clove

Your fragrent smell

Is known far and wide

My stinky breath

Is hard to hide

I cannot give up

My beloved clove

For garlic, you had me at “hello”

Okay, enough poetry.  I’m here to share a recipe for garlic breadsticks that I tried recently.  The dough has a slight eggy flavor to it, but the breadsticks puff up and are pretty soft and yummy.  My picky eight year old son asked for seconds!

Ingredients:

1 c water

1/2 c olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1 c gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose)

2 tsp xanthan gum

4 large eggs

2 T chopped parsley and thyme (or you can use basil, rosemary, etc.)

2 cloves of garlic finely minced

2 T grated parmesan or asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 425F.  Lightly grease two baking sheets.  Mix flour blend with xanthan gum and set aside.  In a medium saucepan combine water, oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg over medium heat until liquid begins to simmer.  Add flour blend to saucepan stirring until dough forms.  Cook for another 2-3 minutes over low heat stirring constantly.  Pour the hot mixture into a food processor and add eggs, herbs and garlic.  Pulse until combined and dough is elastic and smooth.  Spoon mixture into a pastry bag or ziploc bag with one corner cut off.  Squeeze out 7-8 inch long dough lines about 1/2 inch wide onto baking sheets.  Dampen fingers with water to press down ends if necessary.  Sprinkle tops with cheese and bake for 15-18 minutes turning over halfway through cooking process.

Apple Crisp

I decided to make a quick gluten-free apple crisp dessert this weekend and it was super yummy.  I made a homemade caramel sauce to drizzle over the top. Okay, who am I kidding?  I poured a bunch over the top, but you could also serve this topped with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

8 granny smith apples peeled, cored and sliced into 1″ pieces

3/4 c gluten-free all purpose flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

3/4 c granluated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1 stick of butter cold, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 375F.  Place apples in individual ramekins or a glass baking dish.  In medium bowl combine flour blend, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add butter pieces to flour mixture and mix with pastry until mixture resembles small peas.  Cover apples with topping and bake 25-30 minutes for small ramekins or 1 hour if using a large baking dish.

Fish and Chips

I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.  Mine was filled with lots of shamrocks and green appletinis.  I also made sure to make some gluten-free Fish and Chips courtesy of Tyler Florence’s recipe.  They were puffy, crispy and delicious.  I did some research on malt vinegar and found out that it is believed that malt vinegar is gluten-free or contains only trace amounts of gluten because of the process it goes through when they are making it.  I did have a little bit of malt vinegar on my fish, but if you want to be absolutely, positively safe just dunk your fish in some homemade tarter sauce instead.

Ingredients:

2c all-purpose gluten-free flour

1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 large egg lightly beaten

1/2 c white rice flour for dredging

16 oz cod fillets cut into 2-3 inch pieces at an angle

12 oz club soda

canola or vegetable oil for frying

4 russet potatoes scrubbed clean and cut into potato wedges

1/4 c chopped parsley

1 T fresh thyme chopped

1 T fresh rosemary chopped

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

For the chips, preheat oven to 400F.  Coat your potatoes in oil and then spinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary and parsley.  Spread evenly onto a large baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes turning over halfway through cooking.

For the fish, heat about 3 inches of oil over medium-high heat.  In a large mixing bowl combine 2 c all-purpose flour, baking powder, egg, 1/4 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of salt.  Pour in club soda and whisk to combine.  Batter should be smooth.  Dust each cod fillet with rice flour and then dip in the batter.  Drain off excess and place fish in hot oil.  Fry for 5 minutes until golden brown.  Drain fish on papertowels and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread

Another yummy quick bread recipe that tastes absolutely delicious.  Serve each slice with butter or honey and treat your tastebuds.  This bread is perfect for a breakfast on the go served with a glass of cold almond milk.  Yum!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 c granulated sugar

2 tsp gluten-free vanilla

1 1/2 c shredded zucchini

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 c all purpose gluten-free flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 c chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350F.  Beat eggs, sugar and oil in large bowl with an electric mixer.  Add vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and xanthan gum.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir by hand to mix well.  Add zucchini and nuts and stir to combine.  Pour into a greased 9X5 loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Besides missing regular bread, pasta and crackers sometimes I miss a really good chewy cookie.  Sure, they make gluten free cookies and some of them are not too shabby.  I really wanted to make a homemade chew chocolate chip cookie so I searched the internet to find a recipe that was up to the task.  Leave it to Land O Lakes to come up a chewy cookie that received lots of rave reviews. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c gluten-free flour blend (2c rice flour, 2/3 potato starch, 1/3 c tapioca flour and 1 tsp xanthan gum – mix and store)

1 tsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 c unsalted butter softened

3/4 firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp gluten-free vanilla

12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sat and xanthan gum in a medium bowl and set aside.  Combine butter and both sugars in a large bowl and beat on medium speed until creamy scraping often.  Add eggs and vanilla and continue beating scraping often.  Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mix until well blended.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 9-12 minutes until light golden brown.  Let stand 1-2 minutes and remove from pan.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.

Biscuits

The best thing on my plate for this breakfast was the gluten-free biscuits coated in butter and strawberry jam.  Oh, how I’ve missed homemade biscuits, but this recipe is flaky and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c white rice flour plus more for rolling

3/4 c tapioca starch

1 T baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

6 T cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

3/4 c skim milk

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.  Whisk together flour, starch, baking powder and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives.  Make sure you leave some larger pieces of butter in the mixture.  Add the milk starting with a 1/2 c at a time mixing until the dough comes together.  Put some flour on your work surface and dump out the dough.  Knead a few times and then roll it out to 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter.  You can gently reform the dough to make additional biscuits.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.  Serve warm.