DB Scones/Biscuits (3 gluten and dairy free versions)

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Whoops, somehow I kept forgetting to make time to post this months Daring Baker challenge!  This month we were given a biscuit recipe.  Even though I didn't personally eat any of these (due to my Whole 30 pledge) and I couldn't make the provided recipe (because the rest of the house is dairy free and currently wheat free) I still felt like trying out some recipes on the kids and John to see if any would be a hit.  Here are the results...

First, I made these Coconut Flour Bacon Biscuits from Primal Den Mother.  John and the kids weren't impressed though that may be because they were slightly over baked or because of the coconut flour.  I personally like coconut flour baked goods more than they do and from the smell I think I might like these.  

Next I tried GF Buttermilk Biscuits from Food.com.  I used Spectrum butter flavored shortening and So Delicious cultured coconut milk in place of the butter and buttermilk.  They had a good smell but the texture was too gummy and no one was interested in them.

Finally I made the Almond Flour Biscuits from Elana's Pantry.  These were the clear winner.  John and Alex both liked them a lot and they had a good looking texture after baking.  I can see myself having these occasionally after the Whole 30 is over, though I do find that her almond flour baked goods start all tasting too similar if I have them often.  

*For the official Daring Baker scone/biscuit recipe for this month visit our host, Audax, at Audax Artifex or take a look at the DB Scone recipe pdf.

Penny has been crazy about Play Dough lately.

She is our little princess. A tiara picture for you mom!

Alex isn't such a monster, he just seems to want to look like one. 

Fortune Cookies (gluten and dairy free)

We were invited to a Chinese New Year celebration yesterday and I was determined to bring fortune cookies that Alex could safely have.  Friday night I fought with three different recipes: two that were gluten free by design and one wheat flour recipe with gluten free flour blend as replacement.  All of them were flops and I was fairly discouraged and a bit angry about wasting some of the last of our eggs.  Our chickens and ducks have mostly stopped laying now.  :(   But the next morning I screwed by courage to the sticking place and gave it one more try.  This time I altered a recipe I already knew worked and success was mine!  I was even happier with how my stir fried pork with mushrooms served with sesame cabbage came out.  I will have to make that again since it was Whole 30 compliant and I'd like to post it.  The pork and cabbage helped me survive the challenge of not eating even the smallest taste of fortune cookie.  Thank goodness the kids make great taste testers!

Fortune Cookies (gluten and dairy free)
Adapted from this recipe which came from this recipe
Makes ~18 cookies

57g coconut oil
57g powdered sugar
2 egg whites, room temperature
48g tapioca flour
17g corn starch
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  
-Line a couple of baking pans with parchment paper. If your pans are rimmed I suggest flipping them over and working on the back side so that spreading the batter is easier.  Set out a muffin tin to use while forming cookies and print and cut out your fortunes.  I used a lot from  this list of fortune cookie messages but my favorite is "Your fortune lies in another cookie".
-In a stand mixer, cream the coconut oil and sugar until light in color and smooth.  Add the egg whites and extracts and beat until incorporated.   This will be extra tricky if you don't have your egg whites at room temperature.  
-Add the tapioca starch, corn starch and salt and beat until a smooth batter forms, you will probably need to scrape down the bowl a few times.
-Oil your parchment with spray oil or a little melted coconut oil.  On one half of the parchment take a little less than a tablespoon of batter and spread it evenly with an offset spatula into an ~4 inch diameter circle.  Repeat on the other side of the baking sheet.  If you don't feel confident about this step you can trace a circle in pencil on the reverse side of your parchment paper to use as a guide or you can make a circle stencil out of thin cardboard (think cereal box) and then spread the batter just inside the template.
-Bake for 4-5 minutes until  light golden brown on edges, bake only 2 cookies at a time.
-Immediately after removing from the oven take a fortune and place it on the center line.  Then fold the cookie in half keeping the folded edge flat and not squashed.  Then bend in the two corners and place the cookie inside a muffin tin cup to keep it from unfolding as it cools.  This does some practice and hands that can take some heat.  This image was helpful for me to learn the fold though if you Google other recipes you'll see a lot of people using coffee cups to help fold.  The coffee cup technique wasn't helpful to me but you may be different.
-Repeat with the remaining batter. Be sure to cool off your cookie sheet and reoil your parchment after each batch.  Do not add fresh batter to a warm cookie sheet.  
-After the cookies have cooled store them in an airtight container.  

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

DB Sad Sourdough

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

Jessica of My Recipe Project gave us the task of making sourdough bread.  I really wanted to try a gluten free sourdough loaf but a few failed attempts and a load of Christmas projects to finish pushed it from my mind.  So all I have to offer is a sad picture of one of my moldy starters.  I'd love if anyone could help me figure out why my rice flour starters got moldy and what I should do about it.  Should I vinegar clean the bowl, boil the water first, get a different batch of rice flour?  Oh well, maybe some other time I'll feel up to trying again.  For those interested, the recipes can be found at our host Jessica's site, My Recipe Project, or on this PDF.

My mold-spotted rice sourdough starter

Chewy Molasses Cookies (redone grain free)

When I was younger I teased my mother for eating dried dates by saying they look like cockroaches. It had something to do with the translucence and papery skin, which I still find a little eerie, but recently dates have come to my rescue.  In this year's attempt to tackle wheat free baking I have found that dates, and date paste, are my favorite secret weapon for making good grain-free cookies.  This recipe is the first of two cookies that make use of my current favorite method. Using my ever evolving baking strategies I updated a favorite Christmas cookie of ours, the Chewy Molasses Cookie.  The flavor is still there though the sweetness is toned down to match our current tastes.  In my opinion this allows the zing of the spices and molasses to shine brighter.  I suppose I could still compromise and coat the outside of these in sugar but since they were so well received by both kids I think I'll keep them as is.   One experiment I would like to try is to double bake them at a low temperature like biscotti to see if I can get a crisp version as well as this chewy one.

Chewy Molasses Date Cookies 
Makes ~3 dozen small cookies, made using a 1 tablespoon scoop

7 ounces date paste (or ~1 1/3 cup packed pitted dates)*
3 ounces coconut oil (~1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)*
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup almond meal*
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking sheets with parchment.
-It is best to have all your ingredients at room temperature.  Add your dates, coconut oil, eggs and molasses to a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste.  If you are using pitted dates double check them for pits and expect this to take a little longer.
-In a small bowl whisk together all your dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients to the date mixture and process until combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
-Spoon tablespoons of dough onto your lined baking sheets leaving at least an inch and a half of spreading room.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes until puffy.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheets before removing.  It's best to release the cookies with an offset spatula before removing.  
-Baked cookies freeze well but I have found that coconut flour baked goods like these tend to not store well for long periods at room temperature.

*Ingredient information:  I get my date paste from Country Life Natural Foods.  It is relatively dry compared to most homemade versions I've seen but it's great for baking.  My kids prefer no coconut flavor and so we use the expeller pressed oil from Wilderness Family Naturals.  I've used both Bob's Red Mill and Honeyville almond flour/meal in these and both work fine.

I'm adding these to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays on Simply Sugar & Gluten Free

DB Filipino Desserts

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Filipino desserts were chosen to be this month's Daring Baker challenge.  Already wheat-free with lots of eggs and low dairy these recipes were a fun adventure that began with making salted duck eggs.  Raw duck eggs sat on my pantry shelf, curing in a salt brine, for over 20 days before they were boiled and used as a garnish for the sweet rice cake, Bibingka.  The salted eggs weren't that strange in flavor but the texture was unusual.  To complete the authentic flavor, the rice cake bowl was lined with a banana leaf I clipped from my own banana plant.   It was an interesting combination but not something I loved.  The Sans Rival was a more familiar recipe for a chocolate nut meringue, cashew in the original recipe/almond in mine, layered with French butter cream.  The meringue was wonderful, chewy and nutty and a tad crispy.  The lack of real butter in my butter cream was disappointing but mattered little to the kids who haven't had anything frosted in a while.  It was fun to try some new things.  Thanks for the challenge Catherine!

Links:
-For the complete challenge recipes visit our host, Catherine, at her blog Munchie Musings.  The Sans Rival recipe is her creation.  For the original Bibingka recipe and more Filipino food take a look at the site Jun-blog.
-My alterations this month were simple.  Coconut oil in place of the butter in the Bibinka and no cheese.  I used Spectrum Butter Flavor shortening in the butter cream, remember that it is unsalted and so you need to add salt to the egg yolks so that it will dissolve.  The butter cream was flat tasting without any salt and added later it didn't dissolve.  If I were to try this butter cream again I would try  adding a single tablespoon of milk (almond or coconut) to cut the waxiness of the shortening.  It did pipe beautifully though!

The chocolate Sans Rival

A vanilla frosted version requested by Alex

My banana plants

Their sacrificial leaf

My flock feasting on $1ea after Halloween pumpkins.  

They graciously provided the eggs for this challenge.

Our dog Perfect, I'm recently trying to get her out with the poultry with the hope that I can train her to help in some way.  Of course I have no idea what I'm doing but she is smart and obedient and starting to get over her puppy craziness.

DB Croissants (done dairy and gluten free)

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

Well, just because you "can" make gluten-free/dairy-free croissant-like things doesn't mean you "should".  Some part of me feels good about giving it a go despite my limitations but the reality is that these weren't any better than Pillsbury Crescent Rolls from the tube and took *considerably* more time to make.  Dairy-free croissants, sure-I'd make 'em.  Gluten-free ones with real butter and cream, most definitely!!, but another attempt at making something croissant like without both gluten and dairy is not in my future.  The kids did eat them so it wasn't a loss on that front.  But again, these just aren't good enough and nothing I can think of could change that.  Time to make some pot roast instead!

Links:
-The given recipe for Julia Child's croissants is available here. This recipe comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two.
-I attempted the recipe for Gluten Free Croissants from Blog Critic author Bobbie Noto.  I replaced the heavy cream and milk with almond milk and the butter with Spectrum butter flavored shortening plus 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  You can see more recipes at Bobbie's Baking Blog, look for the Vols-au-Vent recipe for a gluten free puff pastry recipe. 
-More Daring Baker-ness can be found on the blogroll. 

In case you desire a tortuously long process that produces Doughboy results, here are pictures of the "butter" fold to help you along.  First mold your butter opposite your dough square.

Then fold in each triangular flap, overlapping slightly

For my more successful ventures this month, Alex loves this Minecraft Creeper plushy we made together.

DB Fresh Frasier (or rather Framboises)

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Daring Baker time!  This month's creation was chiffon cake filled with fresh fruit and pastry cream, a Fresh Frasier.  I chose to use fresh raspberries, made the gluten-free chiffon cake from Penny's birthday, used coconut milk for the pastry cream (alas no stabilized whipped cream for us) and sweetened it all with maple sugar. I overcooked the pastry cream a bit and I think I'm getting to a point where even maple sugar is too much for me.  I'd rather just have the berries plain or the berries with a splash of coconut milk and skip the cake.  But the cake was put to use and served some kind friends that put up with my experimental desserts.  Penny loved hers but Alex balked at the coconut milk cream.  He's my picky one.  Thanks for the challenge Jana!

Links:
-For the full original recipe visit our host Jana at Cherry Tea Cakes or see the pdf recipe.
-I made this gluten-free chiffon cake but this time used maple sugar.  I made the pastry cream from Jana's recipe but replaced the whole milk with full fat coconut milk and left out the whipped cream.
-Her recipes are based on those of Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson from the cookbook Tartine.
-Other participants for this challenge are listed in the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Penny had no patience for my picture taking.

Her new hobby is flower picking.  This week Queen Anne's Lace is the favorite.

DB Baklava (gluten-free and wheat versions)

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June  challenge.  Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade  phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

It was just my luck that I'd still be avoiding wheat when the Daring Bakers decided to make homemade phyllo.  It's been on my To Try list for a long time and so I couldn't resist making both a wheat flour and a gluten-free version of this dessert.  The wheat phyllo wasn't as hard as I thought it would be though I think I made it a lot less challenging by baking a small batch, small sheets are much easier to roll out.  The gluten-free recipe we were offered required a specific brand of flour mix and so I just chose to make a mini batch and wing it.  I used a combination of tapioca flour, sorghum flour and cornstarch but it really wasn't much of a success. It couldn't be rolled thin enough, was too tough in the finished product and didn't brown properly.  Apologies for the top picture, I just never got around to getting a shot of the cut slices.  But you can see the gluten-free phyllo is in the smaller pan and clearly not the golden brown I intended.  It was still edible and the honeyed nut filling was delicious.  For both of my baklava, I left out the sugar in the nuts and used a combination of almonds and walnuts.  I spiced them with cinnamon and cardamom and made the syrup with honey, lemon juice and a splash of orange flower water.  My wheat baklava went to friends we had over for dinner and for my first try at homemade phyllo I thought it was alright.  I did notice that it needed more syrup because it wasn't as sticky as I would have liked.  But there is always room for improvement and now I can check off an attempt at homemade phyllo, what next?

Lately we're busy trying to make the most of the sunny days we get.  My vegetable garden is coming along nicely and our new ducks and chickens are getting all grown up.  Alex had a fun birthday and loves being free from school.  Penny is growing like a weed and learning to climb up on everything-- couches, beds, chairs, tables!!  I try to give her lots of time outside so we can avoid that.  She and Alex are kept busy picking strawberries, fighting over the hose and hunting for frogs around our pond.  Right now we have over a dozen green frogs, 5 or 6 painted turtles and several generations of tadpoles in the pond John had dug last fall.  What Alex really wants to find is a salamander so we've been poking under all the rotting logs in our woods.  Summer is grand!  I hope yours is going as well as ours.

Links:
-For the full recipe visit our host Erica at her site,Erica’s Edibles.   Or view the recipes HERE in a PDF version.
-Erica based her recipe on those found in the book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague and the Baklava recipe from Alton Brown.
-I think if I'm ever eating gluten-free and crave baklava these Baked Apples "Baklava" would be a better choice than trying gf phyllo.
-Other participants for this challenge are listed in the Daring Baker Blogroll.

The wheat phyllo, see how you can read the paper through it.

My attempt at gluten-free phyllo, thin but I couldn't get it transparent.

My big NINE year old boy

Penny on a salamander hunt

DB Bacon Cups

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

We took this week off of school and lazed around so much that I put off making this recipe until after it was supposed to be posted.  Alex loved the bacon cups and I can see myself making them again for him.  Wrapping the bacon so that it doesn't shrink and leave big holes is tricky and you do have to watch them to make sure they don't overcrisp.   I filled my cup with my own maple syrup sweetened mashed sweet potatoes instead of trying to make a dairy-free mousse.  Penny loved the mash.

Links:
-Our host this month is Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz.  See her blog for all the recipes.
-The bacon cup recipe was inspired by not martha and 59kilos.
-Visit the Daring Kitchen to see all the creative edible containers and vote for your favorite.

Spring in the air and gluten-free pizza in the oven

The pizza pictured above is my very first attempt at a gluten-free/dairy-free pizza and it was damn good.  I used the recipe for Gluten-Free Crusty Boule dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  With help from the directions in the book I kept my crust thin, patting it out with floured hands instead of rolling and baked it at 500 degrees F for about 10 minutes.  But as good as that pizza was the time spent outside today was even better.

A few hours in the afternoon, bracketed by thunderstorms in the morning and early evening, the weather was perfect--just enough sun and as warm as a midsummer day.

It began innocently enough.
We thought it would be fun to let Penny try out her walking feet in the grass.

She is still unsure about walking on uneven ground and completely refuses to walk in shoes.

Alex wanted to make a hose river but his sister didn't think it was a good idea.

Her fears were validated when he put mud on her foot.

Things looked considerably better after Abbie showed up.

And all was forgiven once the mud was wiped off.

We left Alex to his imagination.
There were mumblings about the mighty Mississippi.

And we did some daydreaming of our own in the garden. 

I don't know what Penny is thinking but I'm picturing pumpkins and lots of kale.

Karmal came with us to the garden.

But Perfect stayed to watch the river.

We tracked down the ducks, who seemed a little skittish.

They finally settled down in the white pine forest in our valley.

Penny and I relaxed under the pine boughs on the soft fallen needles.

The weedy equisetum growing there kept Penny entertained.

And Fritz acted as our guard dog.

It's a good thing we had him because look what came after us!

We had nothing to fear, except getting dirty, it was only Alex.

Thunder and a chill in the air chased us indoors where we told a sleepy Nelson all about our adventure.

And then we had some leftover pizza.

Spring on Dog Hill a Flickr set