Gluten-Free Crêpes Two Ways

Things have been crazy here recently. Between the holidays, winter break, recovering from surgery, all of us getting sick, and just the general craziness of trying to work and having two kids, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to work on this doggone blog.

This post is going to be short, to the point, and fairly lean in the photography department. Disclaimer: all the photos were taken with my two boys either in the frame or pulling on my legs, so please forgive the blurriness!

When I used to spend time in France, I always looked forward to stopping at a crêperie at least a few times during my stay. They had it down to a science, and even at capacity, these places knew how to crank the crêpes out. Diners had the choice of ordering savory or sweet crêpes. Though I love both, I usually got my old reliable, a crêpe smeared with Nutella. These days, Nutella crêpes are my boys' favorite, though I now prefer to fill mine with fruit and preserves. My husband prefers salty, and goes with ham and cheese.

The presentation of a crêpe, either savory or sweet, appears sophisticated to a layperson, but these things are ridiculously easy to make. Even I, who abhors cooking anything before noon, can whip a batch of these up in just a matter of minutes. You make crêpes just like pancakes; the only difference is that crêpe batter is thinner, and usually has a higher egg and liquid content. An ideal crêpe batter has the consistency of heavy cream, and this creates the thin but durable texture we're used to after cooking.

There is actually very little flour in this recipe. I used an all-purpose blend, and didn't need to modify quantities for altitude at all. You can either make these crepes with butter or oil, though I prefer the flavor of butter. I make mine with sugar and vanilla--I find that a subtle sweetness in the crêpes actually enhances the flavor of both savory and sweet fillings--but you can omit these as well, if you choose.

The key to making good crêpes actually lies with your cooking implements. You need a good skillet or griddle that heats evenly (I use a nonstick griddle, and therefore don't need any additional oil for cooking), and a thin spatula with which you can flip the crêpe. I like to set my stove at medium-high, and allow my griddle to warm up for at least five minutes before I start cooking. Once I get started, the cooking process is quick. I pour the batter onto the griddle in a spiral motion to make a nice even circle. I wait until bubbles form all over the top of the crêpe, check to see if the bottom is golden, flip it, and then cook for another minute or so. Easy-peasy.

Filling the crêpe is up to you. I usually go simple, with some fresh fruit, preserves, and powdered sugar, but you can fill it with practically anything.

Today I made mine with raspberry jam, fresh raspberries, and powdered sugar. From start to finish, the whole process took about ten minutes, no joke.

I hope you enjoy the ease of this recipe as much as I do!  

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup milk

2 eggs

2T melted butter (or oil)

1 tsp vanilla*

1/4 tsp salt

2T sugar*

2/3 cups gluten-free flour blend without leavening (I used Pamela's Artisan Blend)

Jam, Nutella, or other filling ingredients of your choice

*You may omit if making savory crêpes

Instructions: Warm a skillet or griddle over medium high heat.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Gradually add flour to wet mixture, whisking away any lumps. Allow batter to sit a few minutes, and whisk again to make the batter completely smooth. Once griddle is hot, pour batter in a spiral motion to make an approximately 8-inch circle. When bubbles appear all over the top of the crêpe and the bottom is golden, flip and cook an additional minute. Fill as desired. Makes 7-8 8-inch crêpes. 

Sea-Level Modifications: None

  

Sinclair Lewis Cookies (And The Story Behind These Crispy Cocoa-Almond Cookies With A Boozy Kick)

Every Christmas, my grandmother (aka Granny) would bake hundreds of cookies. The cookies were kept in tins in the unheated coatroom of her old house. It was often my responsibility to haul the cookies into the kitchen, and assemble various assortments on fancy platters and stands.

Though they were hardly the visual beauties of my grandmother's ball, one of my favorites year after year were her cutout cocoa-almond cookies. As with many recipes from the family vault, these cookies come with a story...

The tale starts before Granny was even born. In 1920, right around the time that prohibition laws took effect in the US, my great grandparents, the Schmitts, rented their Mankato, Minnesota townhouse to a notable guest who wanted to get away from the sweltering heat and bustle of Washington, DC. The houseguest was none other than the author, Sinclair Lewis. While he stayed at the Schmitt's house, Lewis completed one of the great American novels, Main Street.

Lewis often travelled outside of town to enjoy the company of my great grandparents and their family at their summer home. On one of those visits, he asked my great grandmother, Laura, to make some cookies, and he provided her with the original recipe that his mother used to make. Laura made them according to the old recipe, and the cookies were a hit.

That fall, Sinclair Lewis returned to DC to publish his book, and the Schmitts returned to Mankato. Upon arriving back at their house, they were dismayed to find that their entire stash of bootlegged liquor had been replaced with water. Every year after that, they would make "Sinclair Lewis" cookies, and lament the stolen liquor.

Granny made sure to remind us of the cookie recipe's provenance, especially when I, as a teenager, actually had to read Main Street as a school assignment.

Every living generation in my family makes these cookies, and I've missed them terribly for the eight years since my celiac diagnosis.

Converting the original family recipe to a gluten-free version wasn't easy. I found that instead of just substituting gluten-free ingredients, I actually needed to change the proportions and composition of the entire recipe. All while keeping the integrity of the flavor and texture of the original. Tall task.

Luckily, after several (and by several, I mean 4--this one was a doozy!) attempts, I was able to very closely approximate the original.

I created a dough that, after chilling, rolls thin enough to make wafer thin, crispy cookies.

After a few minutes in the oven, and a few on the cooling rack, they are all yours! Our last few will be going to Santa...

Hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas!  

Sinclair Lewis Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup almond meal or coarsely chopped almonds

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tsp cognac or other brandy variety (I used Courvoisier)

1 egg

In a mixer, cream butter and sugars. Next, add brandy and egg, continue mixing until well-blended. In a separate bowl, mix salt, flours, cocoa, and xanthan gum. Slowly add to wet mixture, and blend until all the ingredients are incorporated. Dough will be sticky. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate for at least two hours. When dough is chilled roll to 1/8-inch thickness between lightly floured parchment (on bottom) and plastic wrap (on top). Use cookie cutter to cut shapes in dough. Transfer cutouts to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 375 for 6-7 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Recipe makes approximately 36 medium cutouts.   

Sea-Level Adjustments: because there is no leavening in this recipe, no modifications need to be made to the ingredients. Bake for approximately the same time at 350 degrees.   

The Cornish Pasty, a Savory Pie

When I set out to start this blog a few weeks back, I decided to stick to gluten-free baking recipes, if only to make my own tiny niche in the great big electronic world. Though desserts are my main thing, I can't overlook the savory pastry.

I love savory pastries and dumplings: empanadas, pirogis, pasties, you name it. They are so easy! You make a basic dough, and then fill it with whatever the heck you want. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, spices; the world (or the filling) is your oyster. Drooooool. Who wouldn't want pie for dinner?

My favorite savory pie is the Cornish pasty. (Get your mind out of the gutter- NOT that kind of pasty, the PIE kind!) Pasties, originated in Cornwall's mining villages as a quick and portable meal for miners. Pies were baked fresh each morning, and they would stay warm until lunch. If by chance, the pie did get too cold, its Hot-Pocket-like shape (hmmmn, possibly where they got the idea for Hot Pockets??) allowed pasties to be reheated over a fire and eaten without cutlery.

As a child, my family's Cornish pasty recipe was one of my favorites. For quite a few years in a row, I requested it as my birthday meal, one of the rare times I'd get to pick what was for dinner. My mom would make the pasties with steak, but over the years, I've grown to prefer them with ground beef. The filling of this recipe is very easy to modify. If you are a vegetarian, omit the meat, and add other veggies. If you don't eat red meat, substitute ground turkey or chicken. This recipe is time-consuming in that both the crust and the filling need to sit a while for optimum flavor and workability-however, your time will be well-rewarded!

Since I just made a pie crust a few weeks ago that held together really well, I figured I'd modify that recipe to make the pasty crust. This crust has an additional binding agent in the form of two eggs. The eggs strengthen the dough, creating a sturdiness that a traditional pie crust lacks. Cider vinegar lends a slight bite and saltiness to the flavor.

I made my crust in a food processor, though you could make it by hand with a pastry cutter as well. I first pulsed all the dry ingredients together a few times to mix. Next, I added the butter, and pulsed until the mixture resembled course crumbs. In a separate bowl, I mixed the eggs, vinegar, and water and then slowly added the wet mixture to the dough. I used about ten tablespoons of water, but this may vary slightly depending on your flour blend and the humidity. After the dough came off the sides of the food processor, I turned it out onto parchment and kneaded it for a couple of minutes.

Next, I wrapped it in plastic wrap, placed it in the fridge, and let it chill for the rest of the morning. Though you can chill the dough for as little as thirty minutes, cold dough is much easier to work with.

While the dough was chilling, I got working on the filling. I thoroughly cooked the beef, sliced the onions, and diced the potatoes. I mixed the cooked meat, and the raw potatoes and onions in a bowl, seasoned them liberally with salt, pepper, and parsley, and let it sit for about 30 minutes to soak up the seasoning.

Next, it was time to roll out the crust. First, I divided the dough into 10 even pieces, then I rolled it out into a circle between parchment (on the bottom) and a piece of plastic wrap on the top. (I prefer not to use extra flour to roll out my pie crusts- the flour dries out the dough and makes it harder to work with.) I rolled each piece to about 1/8-inch thickness.

I then placed filling on one half of each circle, making sure to leave a border for crimping, and dotted the top of the filling with a small amount of butter.

Next, I folded the dough over the filling, crimped the sides to hold everything in, and slit the top three times for venting.

Once assembled, the pasties were placed on a baking sheet covered in parchment. I brushed each with egg wash to give the crust a nice sheen and help hold them together.  Into the oven they went.  By the time they were ready a half an hour later, my kitchen was filled with an intoxicating, savory aroma.

Once done, these beauties were golden brown on the outside, but still tender and flaky on the inside. The potatoes and carrots were soft, but not soggy.

The pasties also lived up to their reputation.  I made these in the middle of the afternoon, wrapped them up in a tea towel, and they were still warm for dinner.  Bon appetit! 

Recipe:

Crust Ingredients:

3.5 cups finely ground flour blend (I used Pamela's Artisan Flour)

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 eggs

10 tablespoons ice water

Filling Ingredients

4 medium red potatoes, cubed (I keep peels on)

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 onion, diced

1 lb. lean ground beef, turkey, chicken, or substitute vegetable

1/4 cup broth

2 tsp salt

fresh pepper to taste

1 tsp parsley

1 tablespoon butter to dot on filling

1 egg beaten as egg wash

Instructions: Prepare the crust first. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor or bowl and mix to combine. Next, add chilled butter and mix until course crumbs are formed. In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar, water, and eggs. Slowly add to dry mixture and combine until crust comes away from the bowl. Turn out onto parchment and knead for 2-3 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, preferably overnight.  

Meanwhile, make filling. Brown meat over medium-high heat. When the meat is almost done, add broth, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. In a bowl, combine all the filling ingredients except butter, and allow to sit for at least half an hour.  

Next, divide chilled dough into 10 balls. Roll each into a circle, about 1/8-inch thickness. On one half, add a spoonful of filling, being careful to leave at least a 1.5 inch border. Dot the top of the filling with butter. Fold the crust over the filling, pinch edges to seal, and crimp. Slit top of crust three times to vent, and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment.  

Once all the pies are on the baking sheet, brush each with beaten egg. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 350 and bake 15-20 minutes more, until crust is a deep golden brown.    

Sea-level modifications: you will probably need only 8 tablespoons of water or so in the crust recipe. Additionally, your second bake time at 350 will probably be closer to 30 minutes- check for done-ness after 20 minutes.  

Long Absences...and Gluten-Free Cranberry Pie

Well...it's been a while. Actually, it's been nearly two weeks. Bleh. How time flies when you're having fun. Oh, wait. Fun? Nope. Surgery. And not the kind you bounce back from quickly. The kind that leaves you flat on your back, in a narcotic-induced stupor for one-and-a-half straight weeks. Grrrr.

Those of you who know me well, know that bed rest isn't exactly my thing. I'm more of a "let's get going" and "are we there yet" type of girl.  Being forced into a stationary position doesn't exactly bring out the best in me, to which my husband can attest.

However, being active is exactly how I got into this situation. I've run for fitness and fun off and on since I was a kid. As it turns out, my body, in particular, my hips, were not made for running. Though I probably would have had trouble eventually due to a congenital malformation in my hip joints, years of running and soccer pulverized the cartilage and bone leaving me creaky and permanently gimpy over the course of the last few years.

Two arthroscopic surgeries (and 7 screws) later, and I'm (hopefully) on the road to recovery. It has certainly been an uphill battle. This last surgery was a lot more complicated than expected. More damage to the joint, a terrible reaction to anesthesia, and a 4-day migraine that led to two trips to the ER, rendered me practically useless for the last 12 days. A few days after surgery, my surgeon showed me pictures of what was left of my cartilage-not much. Because there was so much damage, he was a heck of a lot more guarded about my full recovery than he was before surgery. Bummer. He didn't, however, completely rule running out, so I'm optimistic that I'll at least be able to enjoy shorter distances by late spring. Fingers crossed.

Anyhow, enough about bones and cartilage. Since I can't run, I've turned to baking to lift my spirits. Not great for my waistline, but at least it's good for my mood.

Well, in all honesty, I still haven't baked anything- I'm lying on the couch with my leg on a pillow. But, I baked this pie for Thanksgiving, and I made myself promise I'd get it up on my blog in time for the holidays. Baby steps, right?

The basic recipe is my grandmother's. As I've written before, she was THE pie expert. Every Thanksgiving, she'd make two pies, always the same: pumpkin and cranberry. Though I loved her pumpkin pie, I literally salivated for the cranberry.

The composition of the pie is similar to some rhubarb pies. The cranberries are incorporated in a sweet, loose custard that cuts the tartness of the berries just a little, and turns the filling ruby-red. A hint of vanilla adds depth and sweetness to the cranberry flavor, and a buttery, flaky crust sprinkled with sugar enhances the tartness of the berries.

The filling of this pie is naturally gluten-free, so the crust was my only concern. Anyone who has been baking gluten-free goods for a while knows that duplicating a gluten-containing pie crust is nearly impossible. Chemically speaking, gluten-free flours don't bind to each other the same way. As a result, you see a lot of pie recipes online with no upper crust, or cute little leaf cutouts or other nonsense. What they don't tell you is that these crust recipes are so brittle that you most often need to pinch and prod them into pie dishes with your fingers.

I wanted a crust that I could roll out reasonably well, and that I could actually form into an upper lattice. It didn't come easily. In fact, I think it took four or five Thanksgivings before I finally got it right. Because crusts don't have leavening, the major factor regarding high altitude was the amount of moisture (in this case, ice water) that I had to add to the crust. I've come to the conclusion that the amount of water you have to add changes with the weather, the altitude, and weather or not you're wearing stripes- basically, you have to add whatever it takes to get the dough to bind. That, and you can't treat the crust like it's gluten-containing counterpart. However hard you try, you WILL need to modify your technique just a little.

I created the dough in my food processor just as I would a gluten crust. First, I added the dry ingredients and pulsed a few times to thoroughly mix things together. Then I added small cubes of cold butter, straight from the fridge (cold means really cold in this case!)

Next, I pulsed the processor until a "course crumb" texture was achieved.

Now here's where it got tricky. My recipe called for 1/3 cup of ice water to bring the dough together. 1/3 cup didn't do a thing. I ended up adding six additional tablespoons (very carefully, and tablespoon by tablespoon!) to this particular batch - must have been wearing the stripes. When the dough finally stuck together, I formed it into a ball on some parchment. My crust recipe actually makes two crusts, so I divided the dough, and chilled it for an hour in the fridge. You can skip this step, but beware, you will have a hard time working and rolling out the crust.

Once the dough was chilled, I rolled it out between a piece of parchment (on the bottom), and a piece of plastic wrap (on the top). Gluten free doughs are often intrinsically more sticky than gluten-crusts, and if you sprinkle too much flour on them while rolling, they will become dry and brittle - plastic wrap is a better way to go. After rolling to about 1/8-inch thickness, I inverted the parchment onto my pie plate, patted the crust into place, gently pricked it with a fork a few times to prevent bubbling, and sprinkled it with some sugar for good measure. Not 100% perfect, but here's what I got:

Next, in went the filling, and all that was left was the lattice crust. I rolled out the other half of the dough, and with a pastry cutter, cut about 8 thick strips - I was running out of time by this point, so I went for the rustic look. I formed a lattice with the strips, popped it in the oven, and after an hour or so, I was greeted with this beauty:

We all prefer our cranberry pie chilled, so into the fridge it went. After enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, the pie everyone was waiting for was sliced, and served with a scoop of vanilla-bean ice cream. Yum!

Recipe:

Gluten-Free Crust:

2.5 cups finely-ground flour blend (I used Pamela's Artisan Blend)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

Approx. 1/3 cup ice water (or as much as necessary to bring dough together)

Filling:

2 cups chopped cranberries

3 eggs, beaten until light

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tsp vanilla (or almond extract)

Directions: In a food processor, pulse dry ingredients until combined. Add chilled butter, and pulse just until course crumbs are formed.  Do not over-mix! Slowly add ice water until dough comes together. Turn out on parchment and form a ball. Divide into two disks, wrap each in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour.  

While dough is chilling, make filling. Combine beaten eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla, and stir until combined. Fold in cranberries.  

Next, roll out crust. Roll out between parchment and plastic wrap to 1/8-inch thickness, and invert into pie plate. Leave a large border around edge of crust. Prick bottom gently with fork, enough to leave indentations, but not pierce crust. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Pour in filling.  

Roll out crust for top of pie. Can either be complete crust (with slits for venting) or as I made it, a lattice. If making a lattice, cut strips, and weave over top of pie until covered. Pinch bottom and top crusts together at edge and crimp. Sprinkle with additional sugar if desired. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour, or until crust is golden and filling bubbly.  

Sea level modifications: you may need less water to form the crust, but that will depend more on humidity than elevation. Decrease baking temperature to 350, baking time is the same.

Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies, the Gluten-Free Way

In the last few weeks, the weather here has shifted from autumn to winter. The leaves are gone from the trees, and snow has been falling every couple of days. Brrrr. Though I love everything related to the holidays and winter sports (when appropriately dressed in 158908 layers), I adore warmth and sunlight even more. Cloudy, snowy winter days give me the urge to hibernate, or at least to hole up on the couch in front of a fire with a hot drink and a book. My two active little boys heartily disagree with my opinion of winter. As a result, I usually grit my teeth and spend the majority of my day outside, lumbering around in slow motion, as the blood in my veins turns to slush. 

Today is one of those days where it feels impossible to get warm.  Though it's not terribly cold, hazy clouds are low to the ground, and a flurry seems imminent. I have free range of the house, so the heat is turned up five degrees higher, a fire is burning in the fireplace, and I'm huddled under a blanket.  Must be warm before I can practice the violin.  

I can't imagine a better way to enjoy a cold winter day than sitting just as I am, with a mug of hot cider and some of these soft, chewy, and deliciously spicy molasses cookies within reach. Want to come over yet?

I deserve to be sitting here on the couch enjoying the spoils of my labor.  In all honesty, the cookies pictured above were my fourth batch. Though the taste of the first three batches was great, I had a terrible time getting the texture just right. The first batch was chewy, but rather unattractive- they flattened out too much in the oven, and after cooling, took on a gummy texture. The second batch wasn't chewy at all, and was way too dry. The third batch was almost right, but the flour combination I used was a little bit too grainy. After some brainstorming about my starches, the fourth time was the charm.  

At any given time, my pantry is filled with at least ten different types of grain flours, nut meals, and commercial flour blends. Though I often use commercial blends when I'm in a hurry, I find that they often don't work as well when I'm looking for my recipes to take on specific characteristics, for example, chewiness. I prefer to make my own mixes, adapting the amount of starches, flours, and binders to my needs.

My final flour blend included brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, and xanthan gum.  I don't typically use a lot of tapioca, because it makes dough sticky and has a peculiar flavor. In this case, though, the tapioca was what gave these cookies their chewy texture. Because I wanted the cookies to both retain their moisture during the baking process, and to be solid enough to roll into balls (and dip into sugar-that's what makes a molasses cookie a molasses cookie!), chilling the dough was actually the most important step in the whole process. Right after mixing all the ingredients, the dough was wet and sticky, not workable at all. I let mine chill overnight in the fridge. By the following morning, the flours had soaked up most of the moisture, and the dough was perfect for rolling and sugar-dipping.

A quick 7-minute bake in the oven left me with just what I was looking for. When they were still slightly warm, the cookies had a crisp, sugary outer shell, and the insides were soft.  After cooling for a few hours, the cookies became slightly softer on the outside, and a lot more chewy in the inside...just right  

The boys liked the cookies just as much as I did, so two dozen didn't last for long.  As I sit here enjoying the last one, I'm glad I made it to batch number four.  

Recipe:

3/4 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 heaping tsp ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

pinch black pepper (optional)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk

sugar for rolling dough

Directions: In a large bowl, combine flours, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients, and stir until smooth.  Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ones, stirring until mixed.  Dough will be very sticky.  Cover and chill for at least two hours, preferably overnight.  Once chilled, roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls, dip in sugar, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (a greased baking sheet may cause these cookies to spread).  Flatten balls with your fingers or a fork to form disks, and bake for 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees.  Makes about 24 cookies.

Modification for sea level: double baking soda and omit 2 tablespoons milk. Bake at 350 for approximately 6 minutes.

Pumpkin Muffins...or Cupcakes???

I love muffins. I love cupcakes. What, however, is the difference between the two? When I asked my husband what he thought, his reply was something to the effect of "cupcakes are sweeter than muffins." Hmmmn. Are they really? I've definitely had a super-sweet gingerbread "muffin" that I have convinced myself was nutritious enough to consume for breakfast. And what about carrot muffins? Same ingredients as carrot cake, right? What if you slap icing on a muffin? Does that make it a cupcake? Could you serve un-iced cupcakes as muffins, and as such, pretend they are a healthy-ish food? (The lazy person living inside me likes this idea very much.) Out of curiosity, I did an internet search for "muffin vs. cupcake," and my computer nearly exploded. People seem to have strong opinions about their baked goods.

Well, whatever the answer is to this question, these muffins (cupcakes?) may be enjoyed either way.

I made an absolutely fabulous stew recipe this week (check out the recipe on Simply Gluten-Free) that called for pureed pumpkin, and I was left with an extra 15 ounces of puree. Sadly, I'm already sick of pumpkin pie (don't ask how many of the rum pumpkin pie bars I consumed!), so that was out. Since all quick breads have similar compositions, I decided to test my luck and modify last week's recipe into pumpkin bread.

As we were stirring the batter (I can't bake without one of my kids "helping"), my son Nate expressed his ambivalence towards pumpkin bread, but hinted that he wouldn't be opposed to cupcakes...I decided to roll with it, and out came our timeworn muffin tin.

Here's a shot of our joint effort before it went into the oven:

Since I wasn't sure about the baking time for this new recipe, I had to camp out in front of my stove yet again, checking for done-ness every few minutes. If any of my neighbors caught a peek of me through the window, I'm sure they questioned my sanity. Luckily, I took the muffins out at just the right moment. They were fluffy, golden on the outside, and tender and moist (boy, I hate that word, but there just isn't a good replacement for it!) on the inside.

Frosting doesn't really agree with my sensitive stomach, so I would have probably left them just as they were. However, Nate hadn't forgotten my promise for cupcakes, so on we went with the frosting. Either a buttercream or a cream cheese frosting would have worked well with this recipe.  We decided on a basic vanilla cream cheese frosting, and even I couldn't help myself from trying one. The tanginess of the frosting complimented the sweetness of the cake.

In the end, my muffin crossed over to the Dark Side (well, cupcake side, that is).




Recipe:

Pumpkin Muffins:

(Makes 12 large muffins)

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
15 oz. (or one can) pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon, plain yogurt
2 cups baking mix (recipe here)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins (OPTIONAL-my kids don't like chunks in their muffins, so I omitted this step this time around)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and yogurt, and beat until smooth. Next, add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and again beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine baking mix, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients slowly to wet ones, and stir until combined. If desired, fold in nuts, chocolate chips, or raisins. Spoon into a muffin tin (either greased or filled with paper muffin cups), filling each cup 3/4 full. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to rest at least ten minutes before turning out of pan. Allow to cool completely before icing.  



Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
16 oz. (one package) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Directions: With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter on high until fluffy. Add vanilla and salt, and mix until well-combined. Gradually add in powdered sugar until completely mixed. Turn mixer to high, and beat for two minutes. Ice muffins with a spatula or piping bag.

Modifications for sea level: double leavening in both flour blend recipe and muffin recipe. Add only 3T yogurt. Frosting remains the same. Bake at 325 for approximately 25-30 minutes.

Gluten-Free Banana Ginger Bread

I feel like a good portion of my life is spent feeding two insatiable toddlers. They have tiny tummies, so they don't need a lot of food, right? WRONG. At least in my personal experience, my 2 and 4-year-olds can put away just about the same amount of food as a high school linebacker. One breakfast?  Nope, at least two-that fuels two hours of running outside. Light lunch?  Never.  Snacks? Of course.  Dinner? Be prepared for the fridge to be empty at the end of the day.

Don't get me wrong, my kids are just as picky as everyone else's, they just REALLY love the food that they like.

Unless they get sick.

This week, both boys have had a nasty virus that has left them cranky, snotty-nosed, and sleepless. Us too. My huge grocery order (delivered weekly each Saturday afternoon) has barely been touched. Other than the precious berries that they can't ever get enough of, the majority of our produce is exactly where we left it a week ago. The poor kids have barely touched their favorite foods, and this includes the six pounds of bananas that are usually gone in two days. I like bananas, but only on the green side. My husband won't touch bananas with a ten foot pole, so I'm kind of stuck.

A few months back, this exact same scenario led me to the realization (or rather, reminded me in a terrible way) that altitude plays an enormous role in how your baked goods turn out. Back in DC, having too many ripe bananas just meant I could whip up a few loaves of my favorite banana bread (using my much-loved, trusty recipe), and freeze a few for future use. Here in Colorado, not so much. The first time I made banana bread here, I followed my old recipe verbatim. As soon as I looked in the oven about 15 minutes into the baking process, I realized my mistake. The dough was rising at an alarming rate. At 30 minutes, the outside looked almost done, but the inside of the loaf was still raw. At 45 minutes, I had a semi-burned, rubbery, hard, disgusting and inedible brick of something that resembled banana bread. Bleh. Into the trash it went.  

Luckily, the internet, as well as my new local friends, helped set me straight (or at least get me on the right track) about the whole high-altitude baking thing.  I'm slowly learning that certain recipes need more cooking time, some less.  Some need a higher temperature than at sea level.  And some of my recipes, including my banana bread, regrettably needed to be completely rewritten.  

Some good came out of BananaGate.  Well, two good things, to be precise: 

• I grew a pair, and finally rewrote my recipe
• The new recipe was even better than the one I've been using for years

Full disclosure: there were some hiccups in the road, and the recipe I'm posting here is actually my second rendition.  I won't get into the first-it's too gory to mention.  

Because I make quick breads so often, I keep a flour blend on hand to avoid having to mix together 6789 ingredients each time I bake.  Because of the difference in altitude, I effectively halved the amount of leavening, both in my mix, and in the banana bread recipe. Additionally, I realized that in order prevent the bread from drying out during the baking process, I needed to add acidic moisture to the batter.  (It turns out that acids help quick breads retain moisture better than eggs, milk, or water.) In this case, I decided to use plain yogurt. 

After the batter went into the oven, I waited with baited breath, and pretty much camped out in front of the oven to check the bread's progress.  Luckily, it rose just as it should.

The baking time was still shorter than the hour or so that it used to take, but the bread came out really well.  Crisp on the outside, just the perfect amount of moisture in the inside, and a nice added kick from the yogurt and ginger.  

Recipes

Laura's Baking and Pancake Blend:

1 1/4 cups sorghum flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp xanthan gum

Note: I like to have this on hand all the time, so I usually triple or quadruple the recipe and store it in a gallon Ziploc bag.  You can use this blend in place of flour and leavening in recipes that require only baking powder.  You will need to add baking soda if your recipe calls for it.  

Banana Ginger Bread:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

3 tablespoons plain yogurt

3 ripe bananas

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tablespoons finely minced crystallized ginger 

2 cups baking mix (recipe above)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until smooth.  In a separate bowl, mash bananas with yogurt and milk. Add banana mixture to sugar mixture and stir until combined.  In a separate bowl, add the baking mix, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda, stirring well to combine.  Add the dry mixture slowly into the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Fold in crystallized ginger.  Pour batter into a greased bread pan, and bake for 50-55 minutes.  Allow bread to rest for ten minutes after baking before turning out of pan.  

Modifications for sea level: double leavening, add only 1 tablespoon of yogurt.  Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes.