Chocolate Chip Brownies (Gluten Free)

If you didn't know these were gluten free, you'd never guess.  Even if you did know they might be your favorite brownies ever.  The texture is the best I've seen from any gluten free baked good, and the flavor is rich and chocolaty.   They'll sink a little in the middle after you take them out of the oven, but that's ok.

I used a food processor to mix the brownies because I wanted to make sure they were very smooth, but as long as your almond butter is smooth-roasted, a regular mixer should do the trick.  I imagine these would not suffer from a substitution (or addition!) of peanut butter chips, or a swirl of cream cheese & peanut butter blended together.

Here's the recipe, inspired by Elena's Pantry:

• 1 (16) ounce jar almond butter, smooth roasted


• 2 eggs


• 1 ¼ cups agave nectar (this is slightly more than the smaller jars, but you can substitute honey for the remainder if you're a little short)


• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract


• ½ cup cocoa powder


• 1 teaspoon sea salt (or 1/2 tsp if your almond butter is salted)


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325°.  Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish (preferably glass) with baking spray.

Blend the almond butter in a food processor or mixer.  Blend in the eggs, then the agave nectar and vanilla until smooth.  Mix in the cocoa, salt, and baking soda.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand.  Pour into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes.

Mini Cheddar Biscuits - Gluten Free!

I admit, when I began testing recipes for my Go Gluten Free cooking class, I expected to find some good ones, but nothing to replace wheat flour.  I don't know why - there's nothing inherently special about wheat - it just happens to have become the norm.  I thought biscuits would be a big challenge, but I honestly wouldn't have known these were gluten free had I not made them myself.  They have a slightly chewier texture than wheat biscuits, but not enough to notice unless you were comparing the two.  I based the recipe on another from Bob's Red Mill website.  The original recipe calls for pressing the dough flat and cutting into rounds, but after mixing the dough, I decided to do a drop biscuit instead since it was so moist.  My favorite drop biscuits have cheddar cheese, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to add some to the gluten free version.  You can leave it out if you don't eat cheese or dairy.  Some fresh thyme thrown in wouldn't hurt either.

Mini Gluten Free Cheddar Biscuits

• 1/2 c sorghum flour


• 1/4 c potato starch


• 1/4 c tapioca flour


• 1 tsp sugar


• 1 T baking powder


• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum


• 1/ tsp salt


• 1/4 c butter


• 1/2 c buttermilk


• 1/3 c shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.  Stir together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles small peas.  Add buttermilk and cheese, and stir gently until buttermilk is incorporated and dough thickens.

Drop 12 spoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet.  Bake 9-10 minutes until beginning to brown on top.  Serve warm.

Rice Flour Muffins - Gluten Free!

Another gluten free test recipe, another success!  This recipe is based on one I found on the Bob's Red Mill website.    I've always been happy with their products, and there are lots of recipes - gluten free and otherwise - on the site.  My favorite muffin recipe uses yogurt, so I decided to try it in the gluten free recipe, and was really happy with the result.  The texture is a little different from a wheat-based muffin - not quite as fluffy, a little moister, and very light.

I used honey almond Greek yogurt in my muffins, but you can choose any flavor.  Use lemon yogurt, omit the cinnamon, and add 1/2 c blueberries for blueberry muffins.  Next time I think I'll make a gluten free streusel with white rice flour, turbinado sugar, and butter to sprinkle on top.

Rice Flour Muffins

• 1 c white rice flour


• 1 tsp GF baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp xantham gum


• 3 T sugar


• 1 egg


• 6 oz GF yogurt (2/3 c)


• 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°.  Butter or line 6 muffin cups.

In a large bowl,  mix the dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, beat the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.  Divide batter among muffin cups and bake 16-18 minutes, until tops are beginning to brown.

Socca - Gluten Free!

Well, my blog has lived up to its name.

Its been a dry spell for new, blog-worthy recipes - I've been busy and fallen back on old favorites a lot, and nothing new has been good enough to write about.  Until tonight!  In addition to being quick and easy, this recipe is also gluten free. I'll be teaching Go Gluten Free at the Middletown Cooking Studio at the end of the month.  If you're interested in more gluten free recipes click here to sign up.

One thing that attracted me to this recipe was the short list of ingredients.  Often gluten free recipes call for several different types of flour, most of which are expensive and only found at specialty stores.  This one uses only chickpea flour.  It has a kind of sweet flavor, and not too bean-y.  Its a kind of cross between a crepe and pizza.   I topped mine with some applewurst I needed to use up, hoping to fool the kids into thinking it a kind of pizza.  They were wary at first  - the flecks of green might have been spinach, and anything new is automatically suspect.  But after tasting, they all declared it good - maybe not as good as pizza, but certainly edible.

I did not add shallots to my batch of socca - that would have ensured a revolt by the children - but I will next time.  You could also leave out the rosemary, or substitute fresh thyme or oregano.

Socca (Chickpea Crepes)

• 1 c chickpea flour


• 1 c water


• 2 T olive oil


• 1/2 T chopped fresh rosemary


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/4 tsp pepper


• 1/4 c shallot, thinly sliced


• olive oil


• toppings: cheese, sundried tomato, roasted garlic, roasted pepper, cooked sausage, etc.

Mix together chickpea flour, water, 1 T olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Let stand covered 3o minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to low broil.  Brush a 9 1/2" skillet with olive oil and heat over medium low heat until hot.

Pour 1/2 the batter quickly into the center of the pan.  Don't swirl it!  The batter will spread out to a uniform thickness.  Cook until crispy and browned on the underside, dry and set on the top.  Slide onto a baking sheet, and repeat with remaining batter.

Drizzle socca with olive oil, and top as desired.  Broil 6-8 minutes until toppings are hot and cheese is melted.

Pumpkin Cupcakes w Candied Pepitos

You'd never guess unless you read the recipe - these cupcakes are gluten-free!  I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking mix, which combines garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour.   (If you're not sensitive to gluten, just make them with wheat flour.)

This is a great recipe to make if you've got a whole pumpkin, since you use the seeds also.  This was the last one from the garden, and I've still got enough pureed pumpkin in the fridge to make something else too - stay tuned!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting & Candied Pepitos

Cupcakes:

• 3 large eggs


• 1 3/4 c light brown sugar (not packed)


• 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce


• 1 3/4 c cooked pumpkin puree (or 1 15 oz can)


• 2 tsp vanilla extract


• 2 c gluten free all purpose mix, such as Bob's Red Mill


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 2 tsp ground cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp ground allspice


• 1/2 tsp ground ginger


• 1/4 tsp ground cloves


• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg


• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease and flour.

Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until frothy.  Add brown sugar and beat until smooth.  Add the applesauce, pumpkin, and vanilla, and mix well.

In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture a little at a time.  When all the dry mix is added, beat 2 minutes on medium speed.

Fill lined muffin cups 3/4 full and bake 20 minutes.  Cool completely.

Frost with Maple Frosting and top each cupcake with 4-5 Candied Pepitos (recipes follow).

Maple Frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened


• 2 T butter, softened


• 2 T maple syrup


• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract


• 1 3/4 c powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth.  Beat in maple syrup and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar, a half-cup at a time, then beat on medium-high 3-4 minutes until smooth.  Add additional sugar if the frosting is too thin. 

Candied Pepitos (Pumpkin Seeds)

*The pepitos are only a garnish, so this recipe makes more than you'll need for the cupcakes

• 1 c pumpkin seeds, washed and dried


• 1/2 T butter


• 1 T brown sugar


• 1/4 tsp cinnamon


• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Put the butter in a small bowl and microwave until melted.  Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and stir until mixed well.  Toss the pumpkin seeds with the butter mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees (along with the cupcakes) 10-15 minutes until toasted and slightly browned (if you hear them popping, they're done).

Remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt, and cool.