Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

FINALLY I found a way to make soft gluten free buttermilk biscuits that stay soft and tasty for days. I cheat a little bc I use a store-bought gluten free flour mix but my old buttermilk biscuit recipe works perfectly with it!

2 1/2 C Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend
3/4 ts baking soda
2 ts baking powder
2 TB sugar OR 1 TB agave nectar + 1 TB honey
1/2 ts salt
6 TB butter OR vegan butter substitute (I use Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks)
1 C buttermilk OR 1 C rice milk + juice of 1/2 lemon (If you use rice milk make sure it’s NOT vanilla flavored, use original)

The recipe calls for sifting but I cheat and let my kitchenaid mix for me.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and sugar.
Rub in the butter using your fingertips or cut it in with knives.
Add in the buttermilk.
The mixture should be thick and just a bit sticky to the touch.
Form biscuits with floured hands OR use a drop biscuit pan. I invested in a fabulous cast iron drop biscuit pan from Lodge.
Bake @ 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Makes 8-10 biscuits.

We drizzle our biscuits with raw honey! These are great on the go snacks for kids and make the perfect little sandwich for the minis.

Gluten Free Raw Burritos

Since I’ve been unsuccessful in finding a tasty gluten free wrap for making burritos and wraps, I decided to go raw with it instead. So I mixed up some sprouted black beans, corn, carrots, garlic, onions, chili powder, cumin and jalapeños. Put my raw chili on a few romaine lettuce leaves, and topped them with homemade salsa and guacamole and VOILA….. The best burritos I’ve ever had!

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Cupcakes

So I finally got around to making those gluten free yellow cake cupcakes I’ve been talking about… and they turned out really well.  I did use my own little twist thought b/c ya’ll know I’m frugal (aka cheap) and do my best not to buy those expensive prepacked gluten free mixes.  So I guestimated from the Gluten Free Pantry box that I needed about 33 tablespoons of a gluten free flour blend which turns out to be a little over 2 cups of a gluten free flour blend.

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Cupcakes

The gluten free flour blend I used was:

3/4 C brown rice flour
3/4 C sorghum flour
1/4 C tapioca flour
1/4 C potato flour
1 TB guar gum

1 package organic instant vanilla pudding
1/2 C sugar
4 eggs
1/2 C canola oil
3/4 C orange juice
1 TB + 2 ts organic vanilla extract

I followed the rest of the recipe from A Gluten-Free Guide but I used organic instant vanilla pudding that can be found in most natural sections of grocery stores.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix wet ingredients.  Mix dry ingredients into wet mixture (I used my mixer).  Line muffin tins with paper liners and fill 1/2 to 3/4 to top.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

The cupcakes came out moist, but rather dense and the orange juice flavor is a bit much for my pallet but we’ll see what the little people think.  It will be interesting to see how these hold up being stored.  My niece isn’t too fond of them, I think it’s the orange juice flavor she doesn’t like so next time I will use less OJ.  So when my little ones get back from their outting with daddy we’ll see what they think.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed b/c they have a birthday coming up in March!

Gluten Free Cornbread Muffins

Okay so tonight I totally cheated and grabbed a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix… I was going to make those gluten free cupcakes I’ve been salivating over but I just didn’t have time tonight to make anything from scratch.  I used the Bob’s gluten free cornbread mix according to the package except I cut in another 2 tbs of butter to keep the muffins moist.  I used  organic whole cow’s milk (yuck I know, but it actually improves the texture of gluten free baked goods).  I’m starting to realize that gluten free baking and rice milk just don’t mix… the texture just doesn’t come out right.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread

They turned out pretty good, the kids loved them but I think they could have been sweeter, so next time I’ll add a little sugar to the mix.  Overall, the gluten free cornbread muffins were pretty good… now we’ll see how they hold up overnight and if they’re still soft and moist tomorrow!

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Cupcakes

My task for tomorrow is to FINALLY make the  Gluten Free Yellow Cupcakes courtesy of A Gluten-Free Guide.  I’ll have to modify the recipe a bit but we’ll see how it turns out… wish me luck!

The little guy has been wheat/gluten free for over a week now and it was tough, even DH thinks he was going through withdrawal and his behavior was unbearable at times.  But now he’s back to “normal” again since we’ve put him back on the gluten free diet.  I know there’s still some controversy concerning gluten and autism but I’m telling you I’ve seen the difference in my child.

So anyway, we’ll see how these gluten free cupcakes turn out… I’ll be posting pics!

Gluten Free Coconut Flour Muffins

So my last experiment with gluten free muffins took me on a venture to try coconut flour as the base.  First off, $12.00 for a freaking 2lb bag of coconut flour was a sucker punch in the gut… but I figured my little guy’s sanity is worth it, or should I say my sanity b/c he’s driving me nuts right now.  I seriously think he’s going through wheat-withdrawal but that’s another story.

So anyway, I get home and try the recipe on the front of my $12.00 bag of coconut flour and get to baking.  It was a fairly easy recipe that called for the usual ingredients, eggs, butter, milk, vanilla, etc… but only coconut flour was used.  Of course, I didn’t have any cow’s milk but the genius of a husband told me to use eggnog – organic of course (he’s got cartons of this crap around)… so we figure what the hell, instead of running to the store we’ll just add some eggnog in there.  BAD IDEA!

Gluten Free Coconut Honey Muffins

The muffins came out nice and golden brown, the texture was a tad bit dry but the muffins were actually light and fluffy.  So the true taste test comes from the little people, A-man took a bite and handed me the muffin back and told me he didn’t like it, AliKat did the same thing and even my niece T gave it back!  Ok, so three kids giving the muffins the stink-eye isn’t good… I actually thought they were pretty good but the eggnog flavor overpowered the actual flavor of the muffins, SOOOOO long story short I’m going to try it again with plain ol’fashioned milk and see what the minis think.

Hey, at least we tried!

Leftover Gluten Free Bread

Hmmm, well the Gluten Free bread I made was soft and moist the day I baked… 2 days later, not so soft and moist!  Next recipe I’m going to add some organic pudding to the mixture to see if that helps retain the moisture.

So the boy won’t eat the bread now, he says it’s “too bad”… so here I sit with a quarter loaf of bread that neither child nor husband will touch, and I’m not a bread person so it’s just sitting here.  Hey, maybe the birds will like it!

Until my next trial and error quest for the perfect gluten free bread… Happy New Year!