Coffee Cake

I'll make this short so you can bake this as soon as possible (because you NEED to)~ this is the best coffee cake I have ever had.  That includes before GF diet.  I know I have said before that "this doesn't taste GF", but this takes it to a whole new level.  It is really, REALLY good.  My mom says, "Seriously, best coffee cake [I've] ever had, even before gluten free.  Loved it!"

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sour cream and/or plain yogurt
3-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups Baking Flour mix (see ATK flour recipe)
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 stick butter (unsalted), cut into pieces & softened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  In medium bowl, whisk eggs, then add 1 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla and whisk again.

2.  In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, except the spices, together. Add remaining half-cup of sour cream and the butter. With an electric mixer, mix for one or two minutes. Use a pastry knife to break up big pieces if you have any. Slowly add the egg mixture, mixing on high for another minute.  Batter should end up thick but fluffy.
3.  Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan (round cake pan with tube in middle).
4.  Put one cup of the batter into a small bowl, and pour the rest into bundt pan.
5.  Add in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, the tablespoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg to the cup of batter in the small bowl.  Stir well to make a nice dark batter!

6.  Drop a tablespoon of the cinnamon batter onto the top of the batter in the bundt.  Continue around in a circle, probably making 8 blobs of the cinnamon batter around the top of the regular batter. Using a butter knife, swirl each blob so that it gets mixed up in the column of batter directly below it. It doesn't matter too much how messy you are because this will be covered with the toppings. Basically, you want pockets of cinnamon within the cake. Do your best!

7.  Bake cake for about 50 minutes on bottom rack, until skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven, and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack. Then remove from pan (carefully), and let cool another hour.
8.  While cake is cooking, get the nuts ready. Chop the walnuts finely, mix with the cinnamon, sugar, and softened butter. Spread on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Stick this in the oven for about 10 minutes on the top rack while the cake is baking. Open & close door quickly to keep oven hot! Stir after five minutes.
9.  In small bowl, mix the cup of powdered sugar with the milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

10.  Once cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the top.  It's good to have it drip off the sides!
11.  Spread the nuts on top.
12.  Let sit for 20 minutes or until glaze is somewhat set.

(This recipe is based on the America's Test Kitchen How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, p. 56.)

Chocolate Chip & Nut Cookies

At last, a chocolate chip cookie that tastes like a real one!  I kind of think of this diet as, instead of B.C. and A.D. (like in history), Before Diet and With Diet.  If that is true, then I can't tell if this cookie is BD or WD!  The best part about the cookie is the real cookie taste!  The texture is not perfect, but still very good!  My mom says: "I like them better than Mrs. Field's cookies!"  My sister says: "They taste like pancakes."  Not sure where that came from, but she definitely still liked them!  I think that they were really good!  My only negative comment was that they were kind of crumbly.  Other than that, delicious!

Chocolate Chip & Nut Cookies

Ingredients:

-2 cups flour 6.5

-1 Tb. chia seeds (soaked in water for 15 minutes)

-1 egg or egg replacer

-3/4 tsp. salt

-3/4 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1 stick fat free butter, melted until soft

-1/2 cup packed brown sugar

-1/2 white sugar

-Chocolate chips (we did about three handfuls)

-Slivered Almonds (we did about 1 handful)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.  In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients well.  In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients well.  

Combine bowls and stir until just mixed.  Add chocolate chips and nuts. 

3.  Put parchment paper on a baking sheet.  If you don't have paper, just lightly oil and flour a baking sheet.  Put tablespoon sized blobs on the sheet.  (Tablespoons make very large cookies!)  Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Vanilla Sugar cake

Vanilla Sugar Cake

Rating: 4/5

Ingredients:

-1 3/4 cup flour # 1

-1 cup sugar

-1 tsp. flax seed, ground in a coffee grinder

-2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 cup butter or margarine

-2 eggs or egg replacer

-1/2 cup milk or substitute

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Sift flour (or stir with fork) to break up clumps.

2. Mix dry ingredients.

3. Add butter, eggs, milk, salt, and vanilla.  Beat until well mixed. 

4. Spread in a 9x9 pan (greased).  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

This cake was yummy, though the way we made it was interesting.  My dad put it into a 9x13 pan and had to spread it around to completely cover the bottom of the pan.  It rose quite a bit in the oven, but it was still pretty flat.  It tastes really good.  The taste is actually exactly like sugar cookies!  My dad also tried to make his own powdered sugar, which half worked.  Then he added orange juice and made orange frosting, which I do not recommend.  We actually got the recipe from my great grandma's cookbook, the Joy of Cooking, but we altered the flour to make it gluten-free.  For the first cake, it was pretty good!

Chocolate cookies

Chocolate Cookies     

Rating: 5/5, very good!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter (or margarine, or ghee), softened

-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/4 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract

-1 egg or egg substitute

-1 cup flour mix # 1 (see below)

-1 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 cup cocoa powder

-1/4 tsp. salt
-Powdered sugar, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cream together butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla in a mixer.  Add the egg and mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, xanthum gum, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt.  Combine bowls and mix until well blended.

4. Using spoons, put dough balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.  

5. Bake for 5-10 minutes.  Let cookies rest 5 minutes.  Transfer onto a cooling rack.  If desired, roll cookies in powdered sugar.

 Everybody loved these cookies! They stayed moist overnight and they are chocolate-y, yummy, and (the best part) they taste like normal cookies! This was a huge accomplishment after our first try, in which the cookie dough was black.  These cookies also save well if you store them in a container. 

All-Purpose Flour Mix # 1

We got to use our WonderMill to make these flours!  It is cool because we can make our own flour.  We made our own rice and oat flour in this recipe.  My dad loves the WonderMill, and now he is making flour out of everything!

Ingredients:

-1 1/4 cup rice flour

-3/4 cup oat flour

-2/3 cup corn (or potato) starch

-1/3 cup potato starch

-1 large tablespoon Tapioca flour

-1 tsp. xanthum gum

All of the flours were ground in the WonderMill!

The First Cookie!

The First Cookie!

    Rating: 4/5

 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup softened margarine
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup rice flour 
• 3/4 cup garbanzo flour*
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup nestle chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum**

Directions:

1. Beat margarine, sugars, egg, & vanilla until creamy.
2. In a separate bowl blend flours, baking soda, & salt.  Combine bowls and mix well.  Add chocolate chips & mix.  Roll into balls.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes on a lightly greased preheated cookie sheet.

 *It was originally soy flour, but I am allergic to soy.

**We added this to make sure that the cookies didn't crumble.

These cookies turned out pretty good!  The only thing that was not good is that you can kind of taste a weird garbanzo aftertaste.  If you make them, be sure to not eat the cookie dough because it is disgusting!  I thought it was pretty good for garbanzos.  My sister said that they were "light, puffy, and delicious."  Next time we make them we are going to try different flour or substitute egg.