samoa inspired gluten free cookies.

I am not a baker. I repeat, I am not a baker. It is way too much work to bake. Everything has to be so precise. You can't miss a step or do anything out of order. Way to much work for me. Sadly, gluten free baking is so much harder. You have to mix all these different types of flours together to make one that tastes normal... and most of them still don't. You have to make sure that you have just the right amount of xanthan gum per cup of flour you use... it is sticky and gross...ahh! But, I figure I have a long life ahead of me (cross my fingers) so I better have a few good baking recipes up my sleeve.

My roommate came home from work the other day with a few boxes of girl scout cookies in her hand. A small part of me wanted to cry (punch her). In all honesty, I'm not much of a sweet eater. I learned a long time ago to cut that out of my diet and pretty much have lived with that. It is a rare occasion that I want to indulge in desert or candy. Girl scout cookie time, might be one of them. Samoa cookies are amazing. If you haven't had them... please go out and find a girl scout ASAP and get yourself some... unless of course you are a glutard like me... in which case steer clear of those gluten filled cookies. Instead, you can just go ahead and make some gluten free samoa inspired cookies for yourself. 

I found the recipe on the cutest little blog ever, A Bicycle Built for Two. I just modified it a little. Here is what I did. 

for the cookie

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups gluten free flour blend

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

for the topping:

6 tbs butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup condensed milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups toasted coconut

1 bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Add the coconut to a cookie sheet and toast for about 10 minutes. Make sure you are watching that very closely so it doesn't burn. I stirred it every couple minutes to be safe. Once that is done toasting. Take it out and let it cool. Turn the oven up to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar. Then slowly add the flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder. Then add vanilla extract and milk. Once it is all stirred in together, I finished mixing it all with my hands until it turned into a perfect dough. Now, roll the dough out and cut out small circles with a cookie cutter or anything else that will make small circles (this part is where I failed miserably. I made my cookies entirely too big! Next time, I plan on purchasing a small cooking cutter to make the cookies look a lot closer to an actual samoa) So do that until all the cookie dough is gone. Once the circles are done, cutout the middles. I just used a straw and sort of pushed out the circles until they were big enough for my liking. You can always skip this step if it really doesn't matter to you. It will save you a lot of time and energy later on. 

Once the cookies are all cutout, add them to a cookie sheet that is covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 12 minutes until they are golden brown. Take them out and let them cool.

In a small microwavable bowl, melt about half of the chocolate chips. Stirring every 30-40 seconds. Once the cookies are cooled, spread the chocolate on the bottom with a spatula or knife and place the cookie chocolate side up back on the parchment paper and cool in the refrigerator. 

While the chocolate is setting, in a saucepan over medium heat, add the butter, sugar and corn syrup. Don't stop stirring that. Once it has been brought to a boil, let it boil for about 4-5 minutes. Turn the heat down and stir in the condensed milk. Continue to stir for a few more minutes until it gets to be a pretty thick consistency. Once it has thickened add the vanilla and remove from heat. Pour that into a mixer and stir in the toasted coconut slowly. 

Once the chocolate has set, take them out of the refrigerator and add the topping using a knife. Then microwave the other half of the chocolate chips, again stirring every 30-40 seconds. Once the chocolate is melted, let them cool down a little then add them to a ziplock bag and cut a small hole in the corner of it and place a nice drizzle on the top. You can put them back in the refrigerator to let the drizzle and topping set for about 5-10 minutes. Then they are ready to eat!

As you can see, my drizzle is a hot mess! By the end of making this, I was tired and well, over it. Next time, I hope for this cookie to not only taste as good as it does, but for it to look even better!

xoxo

katy 

*Make sure you always double check all your ingredients to make sure they are 100% gluten free.

gluten free flour blend.

Here is one that I think works great!


6 cups brown rice flour (extra finely ground)
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour

This doesn't include the xanthan gum. So you can add that to whatever recipe you are making. The ratio of xanthan gum to gluten free flour varies depending on what you are making. So if a gluten free recipe doesn't already tell you, you can google it to find out. :)

xoxo

katy

fried.

I have never fried food before. So when I decided to take on the task of cooking up some fried deliciousness, I felt a little overwhelmed. 

Was the oil going to be hot enough?

Was it going to be too hot?

How do I know when it has cooked thoroughly?

And since I wasn't just feeding myself, the pressure was on. 

Since going gluten free, I have felt this out-of-control need to turn everyone on to enjoying gluten free food. Seriously, I am determined to make food that people won't even be able to tell the difference between what is "normal" and what is GF. 

So far, I haven't done as well as i'd hoped. Until the other night when I made...

Gluten Free Fried Chicken

Gluten Free Buffalo Wing Style Fried Chicken 

Gluten Free Beer Battered Onion Rings. 

I figured I would get all my frying out of the way in one night, since I much prefer to cook meals on the healthier side. Although I must admit, frying was a ton of fun! I felt dangerous as I tossed the food into the sizzling hot oil. I didn't, however, feel all that dangerous when I would scream like a little girl when the oil would splatter on me.

So here are the recipes:

GF Fried Chicken:

oil (any oil that can take high heat)

1 pound of chicken

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups of GF flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour)

1 tbs of garlic powder

salt and pepper

Heat Oil in pan. Should be about 1/4 inch think. While the oil is heating, was the chicken and dry. Salt and pepper the chicken. Then in one bowl crack all three eggs and scramble really well. In another bowl, place the GF flour and garlic powder.Dredge the chicken in the eggs, then into the flour, then back into the eggs and back into the four. That way it gets a really good coating to it. Once all of the chicken is coated, place as many pieces into the hot oil as you can fit without them touching. Fry until they are a golden brown and then serve! 

Optional: GF buffalo style chicken tenders

After you fry the chicken, place the desired amount of buffalo wing sauce into a ziplock bag and coat them evenly. Cut up a few celery sticks to serve along side them. 

Beer Battered Onion Rings 

oil (any oil that can take high heat)

1 white onion

1 egg white

1 cup GF beer (I used Redbridge)

1 cup GF flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour)

Salt and pepper

Heat oil on high (about 375 degrees) Chop onions about 1/2 inch think and set aside. In one bowl, beat the egg white. In another bowl put the GF beer and GF flour, mix well. Once mixed, add in the egg white and mix again. Season with a little salt and pepper. Drop a few of the onions into the batter at a time. Leaving them for a minute or two to coat. Once they are coated, drop them into the heated oil. Make sure to do this carefully so the rings don't stick together. Also, you want the rings to float not sink. Fry until they are golden brown.

I didn't use a a cooking thermometer, but probably would next night. My oil got a little too hot and I burned the fist batch of onion rings. After some research, I see that you have to keep the oil at a pretty regulated temperature. 

Seriously, considering this was my first time frying I think it as a success. The boy seemed to enjoy it as well, which is a pretty tough feat considering how picky he is. That and his extensive knowledge of what fried food should taste like!

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we did. 


*Make sure you always double check all your ingredients to make sure they are 100% gluten free.

baked chicken taquitos.

First official post :)

I thought I would start with such a great recipe I found on the Whole Foods website. I seriously make this dish all the time. Not only is it super easy to make, but it doesn't taste like something that is "gluten free". 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil, more for brushing tortillas 
1 cup chopped onion 
2 cloves garlic, chopped 
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
1 teaspoon paprika 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
1/4 cup chopped cilantro 
2 cups shredded cooked chicken meat 
2 cups low-sodium, gluten-free chicken broth 
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas 
1 cup crumbled queso fresco or shredded Monterey jack or cheddar

Preheat oven to 425°F and oil a baking sheet. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onion and cook until starting to soften and turn translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika and salt. Stir to combine and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer, until fragrant. Take from heat and stir in cilantro and chicken. Set aside. 

Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a skillet or pot wide enough to hold tortillas. When broth simmers, dip tortillas briefly, one at a time, just to soften, 1 to 2 seconds. Lay tortilla on a work surface and spread 2 or 3 tablespoons chicken mixture over bottom third. Top with a tablespoon of cheese and roll up. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Spray or brush tortillas lightly with oil and bake until crisp and lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately. You can add a little avocado dip too.

I modify a few things when I make them. I skip the chicken broth. I just take about 1 teaspoon of olive oil and spread it out over the 12 taquitos and heat them in a small skillet prior to rolling them. The chicken broth didn't soften them enough and would cause them to split  when I tried to roll them. Also, I only use about 1/2 a cup of light cheese (and you can totally do without the cheese and they still taste great!) and corn tortillas that are about 4o calories each. I try to cut calories where I can and with those modifications the recipe it is about 105 calories per taquito. Which is pretty amazing if you ask me!

Hope you enjoy the recipe!

xoxo
katy