Breadsticks



Gluten Free Breadsticks

My mom used to make me these breadsticks for school lunches. I would take a bag of breadsticks with a little container of tomato sauce and maybe a pepperoni stick or some cheese slices and fruit. They are nice and easy to transport and they also freeze well. My gluten-eating husband has been requesting breadsticks a lot lately and I was starting to get a little jealous, so I decided to make some of my own. I'm planning to whip up a big batch for the upcoming Superbowl!

Go Pats!

I use my white buns recipe for these breadsticks. I usually make the whole recipe so I have enough to make some buns too. Why not make the most of the mess! It's a little tricky to make 1/3 of the recipe anyway. I did my best to give you the alternate measurements.

I use about a third of the dough for an 8x8 pan or roughly 2/3 of the dough for a 9x13 pan. If you want to make all breadsticks, use an 8x8 pan and a 9x13 pan. Otherwise, just make buns out of what's left over using the directions from this recipe.


(for 1/3 of this recipe use the measurements in the square brackets)

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water                                       [2 Tbsp + 2 tsp]
2 tsp sugar                                                     [just under 1 tsp]
4 tsp dry yeast granules                                  [1 1/3 tsp]

2 cups white rice flour                                    [2/3 cup]
2 cups tapioca flour                                        [2/3 cup]
1/4 cup sugar                                                 [1 Tbsp + 1 tsp]
4 tsp guar gum (replaces the gluten)                [1 1/3 tsp]
1 1/2 tsp salt                                                  [1/2 tsp]

1 -1 1/4 cups milk (usually 1 cup is enough)    [1/3 cup]
4 tablespoons oil                                            [1 Tbps + 1 tsp]
1 teaspoon vinegar                                         [ 1/3 tsp - just estimate]
3 eggs                                                            [1 egg]
1/4 cup ground flax (optional)                         [1 Tbsp]


 Directions

Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and let it proof.
Combine rice flour, tapioca flour, sugar, guar gum, and salt together in largest mixing bowl.
Combine milk, oil, vinegar, and eggs in a smaller bowl.
Add wet mixture, flax, and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on high for 4 minutes.Spread into greased 8x8 pan and let rise 20 minutes.
Brush italian or greek dressing on the breadsticks
Bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Let cool and slice into sticks. Serve with tomato sauce.

 

spread dough in greases pan and let rise

brush with italian dressing



bake and let cool



serve with tomato sauce

Quinoa Brownies

Gluten Free Quinoa Brownies

A friend of mine gave me this very interesting looking recipe (thanks Steph). She got it from a friend of hers so I'm not exactly sure where it originated. It's genius really. No flour, starch or meal of any kind. Just cooked quinoa! It seems too easy, I know, but it tastes soooo good and it gets health points for using whole grains with plenty of fibre and protein (we can ignore the 6 Tbsp of butter for now). I am wondering how the same recipe would work if I used brown rice in place of quinoa. It would definitely be cheaper. I'll give it a try and report back.
(Reporting Back: not as great as I had hoped. The brown rice didn't blend as well so there were obvious chunks of rice in it. still tasted great, but the texture was off)

quinoa in blender

I did so much baking before Christmas that I was kind of getting sick of it. Now that most of the residual Christmas treats have been gobbled up, I'm starting to get back into experimental baking. I have decided that working (part time as an educational assistant) is just not worth the chest pain and exhaustion for now, so I am going to look for something I can do from home. So far, no luck.
When I do have some energy, I will use it too cook, clean and bake! (my husband doesn't complain)

I'm also trying to make my food a bit healthier (it is January, after all)... stuff like sneaking quinoa into a brownie, tossing ground flax in my muffins, making oatmeal cookies, and adding a little less sugar (I really can't afford the fancy agave syrup that healthier individuals might substitute). It's kind of a relief after the butter laced shortbread and fudgy, sweet indulgences of the holidays. You can only keep that up for so long!

So for us, it's lots of veggies, whole grains, and quinoa brownies!

(makes one square 8x8 baking pan)
Ingredients

1 cup Cooked Quinoa
3-5 Tbsp Milk (start with 3 but add more if the mixture is too thick for the blender. I used 5)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
6 Tbsp Melted Butter or Margarine (or canola oil)
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

Line an 8x8 square baking dish with wax paper (or just grease the dish).
Blend cooked quinoa, milk, eggs, vanilla and butter in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy.
In a bowl, mix sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add dry mixture to the blender and blend until well mixed. (add the extra milk here if needed)
Scrape batter into prepared dish.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool. Cut into 9 pieces.
Top with icing, melted chocolate or whipped cream. Or just eat as is!

put wet ingredients in a blender

blend until smooth and creamy

mix dry ingredients separately and add to blender

blend well (add more milk if too thick)

pour into prepared pan

bake at 350 for 35-45 mins

cool, cut and serve

I think these could make some pretty sweet cupcakes too. They have a cake-like texture. I'll put that on my mental "to try" list along with these delicious looking oreo cookies from Gluten Free Gobsmacked!
http://glutenfree.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/gluten-free-homemade-oreos/

Caramel Corn

caramel corn (gluten free)

As promised, here is my caramel corn recipe. It's nothing particularly special since caramel corn is naturally gluten free, but it's one of my favourites so I'm going to share it anyway. I tend to associate caramel corn with Christmas time, but it's a great treat any time of year. This Christmas I tied little bags of caramel corn to some homemade cards I gave to friends and family. Yes, I have too much time on my hands:) I probably ate half the caramel corn while making the cards... oops.

This recipe takes time, but it's really easy to make and fairly inexpensive too. Just be careful with the hot caramel, it burns like a mother. You can fancy up the corn by mixing in some peanuts or other nuts. Just add them to the corn when you pour in the caramel.

(makes about 24 cups of caramel corn)
Ingredients

24 cups popped corn (6 quarts)
1 cup Margarine (or butter)
2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1-1 1/2 cups Nuts - optional

Directions

Pop corn and place in two large shallow pans (I use the lid and the base of a roaster). Remove any unpopped kernels.

pop corn

place in two pans

Mix margarine, sugar, salt and corn syrup in large pot.
Stir mixture occasionally until it boils.
Boil without stirring for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.
Stir until mixture is fluffy.
Pour caramel over 2 pans of popped corn (add nuts here if desired) and stir until evenly mixed.
Bake at 250 for 1 hour. Stirring every 15 minutes until caramel has evenly coated the corn and starts to harden a bit.
Let cool, stirring occasionally so the corn stays separate.
Enjoy!

mix in large sauce pan

boil for 5 mins without stirring

add baking soda and vanilla and stir until fluffy

pour caramel over corn

stir caramel in to corn

bake at 250 for 1 hr, stirring every 15 mins

store in large airtight bucket or in bags

This stuff should keep for at least a month.

Multigrain Bread

 

gluten free multigrain bread

Happy New Year!

I was going to post my caramel corn recipe, but seeing as we are just barely recovering from the indulgence of the holidays, I decided to post something a little healthier instead. So today's recipe is for gluten free multigrain bread. Don't worry, caramel corn will come soon :)

gf multigrain bread with honey and butter

I have been working on this recipe over the last few months. I was looking for a healthy bread recipe, with lots of fiber and nutrients, that had a mild and pleasent taste. I really like the nutty, whole grain flavour of this bread. It is a decent size for gluten free bread, and can be sliced fairly thin. Like most gluten free baking, it is best stored (pre-sliced) in the freezer and microwaved or toasted to thaw.

Let me know what you think of this bread recipe!

(makes 1 loaf)
Ingredients

Dry Ingredients
1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/2 cup Oat Flour (grind gluten free oats in coffee grinder or food processor) (you could probably sub rice, sorghum or millet)
3/4 cup Sorghum Flour (or millet or buckwheat flour) - Quinoa flour also works great. See end of this post.
1/2 cup Tapioca Starch
1/3 cup Corn Starch (or Potato Starch)
1/4 cup Ground Flax
1 1/2 Tbsp Guar Gum (or 1 Tbsp Xanthan Gum)
1 1/2 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients
3 Eggs
1 tsp vinegar
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 1/4 tsp Yeast + 1 tsp Sugar
4 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 1/4 cup Very Warm Water

Directions

Mix the yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/4 cup of the warm water (or more if necessary) and set aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast proof.
In medium bowl, beat the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, vinegar, brown sugar, oil and remaining water)
In a large bowl (you can use the bowl for your electric mixer), sift together the dry ingredients.
Slowly add wet ingredients and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing as you add.
Using a mixer or with your hand, mix on low or medium for 5 minutes.

Spoon dough into greased 8" nonstick loaf pan (if your pan isn't nonstick you should line it with greased foil). Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise for about an hr.
Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until it sounds hollow when tapped or the internal temperature is 200-210.
After 1/2 an hour of baking, cover the loaf with foil to keep from getting too dark.
Let cool on rack until room temperature before slicing.
Freeze in airtight container within 12 hours.

add wet to dry ingredients and mix

spoon into greased nonstick loaf pan

let rise for about an hour

bake and let cool on rack



slice and freeze (or eat!)



I tried this recipe the other day using 1/2 cup quinoa flour (simply grind raw quinoa in your coffee grinder until flour like) and 1/4 cup buckwheat flour in place of the sorghum flour. It turned out really good (I liked it more than the original recipe) and the quinoa/buckwheat flours are better for you than the sorghum anyway!

Multigrain bread with quinoa flour

Cuban Lunch

Cuban Lunch (Gluten Free)

A lady from my small group provided me with this recipe. She served them at one of our study nights and everyone went crazy for them. I knew I had to get the recipe. The best part is, they're naturally gluten free! They are also crazy easy to make. You only need 4 ingredients.
Apparently the name comes from an old chocolate bar that was made of similar ingredients (must be before my time), so I'm glad I can still enjoy the flavours of that candy bar in a homemade form. Most people fill mini muffin papers with the mixture, but I couldn't find any so I just dropped spoonfuls on parchment paper. I think I like this method better because you can make them much smaller and they fit tighter in a container.

Don't be afraid of the potato chips in this recipe. Unless you're afraid of the fat content... then go ahead and be very afraid. The salty crunchy texture pairs perfectly with the sweet chocolate and peanuts. People are usually surprised when they find out there's potato chips in these little chocolates because you really can't taste them at all.

So you can all thank Sue for this delicious and easy recipe :)

(makes probably like 30 but it all depends on the size. Recipe can be easily halved, doubled, tripled or multiplied by 1.683 if you really want. Just add equal amounts of everything!)
Ingredients

1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (or milk chocolate)
1 cup Butterscotch Chips
1 cup Ripple Potato Chips (crunch them up a bit)
1 cup Peanuts (salted or plain, whatever you have) - I broke all of mine into halves

Directions

On med-low heat, melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in a medium sized pot, stirring constantly.
Once completely melted, remove from heat and stir in potato chips and peanuts.
Drop teaspoons of mixture on to parchment paper or into mini muffin papers.
Let cool at room temperature until firm.
Keep frozen in an airtight container.

place chocolate and butterscotch chips in medium pot

melt chips over med-low heat, stirring constantly

once completely melted, remove from heat

add peanuts and potato chips

mix so everything is coated in chocolate

spoon on to parchment paper

let sit at room temperature until firm

store in an airtight container in the freezer (next to the rest of your gf Christmas baking)

Sugar Cookies

gluten free sugar cookies

This recipe is very similar to my pie crust recipe. The only difference is more sugar and part of the rice flour is substituted for tapioca starch. The tapioca starch isn't necessary, but I think it helps with the texture.

To avoid crumbling cookies, make them small and fairly thick. It also helps to use shapes that don't have small parts that stick out and can easily break off (like snow flakes or candy canes... mine broke). Christmas Trees, snow men or bells would probably work well.

some of my intact cookies... i had to icing-glue the candy cane back together

These cookies freeze nicely and are fun to decorate. I use a simple icing made from powdered sugar, milk and food colouring, but you can get fancy and do the royal icing thing.

(makes 30 to 40 cookies depending on the size)
Ingredients
1 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Tapioca Starch (or 1/2 cup rice flour)
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cold Margarine
1/2 - 3/4 cup Sugar (based on your preferences)
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract


Directions

Mix together flour, starch, tartar, baking powder, guar gum, and salt.
Cut in margarine until it's small pea sized.
Beat sugar, egg and vanilla separately. Add to dry ingredients.
Mix dough until it forms a clump (use your hands)
Roll onto rice floured counter and cut into cookie shapes (smaller is better).
Bake on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet at 350 for around 8 minutes or until just starting to brown on the bottom.
If you have trouble removing from pan after, wait until cookies are completely cool to remove.
Decorate with icing of your choice.

I use powdered sugar mixed with a little bit of milk and food colouring. You can dip the top of the cookies in the icing or use a little paint brush or knife/spoon to apply.

cut in butter and add wet ingredients to dry

roll out dough on floured surface

rolled out

cut out (maybe leave out the candy cane...)

place on greased cookie sheet

after baking

candy cane fail... it kind of exploded

decorate with icing

The gingerbread men and candy canes didn't hold their shape well. Probably because they were too big and had skinny parts that are easy to break off. You can see that the leg of the man is breaking in this picture. I glued it back together with icing, which worked fine, but it is much easier if you use smaller cookie cutters.

Next time I will try using parchment paper to line the cookie sheet to help with the breakage!