Tea time with coffee cake!

I have started baking again when FP is away on the road. It gives me some sort of peace of mind and some how keeps me sane in this living situation. I wasn't sure what to make, but I knew it had to be something I hadn't tasted in quite a while. So I set off by browsing through a couple cook books that I brought here with me. When I turned the page to the recipe for a delicious struesel coffee cake, I knew I had hit the jackpot! However, I did not follow that recipe. I have found that it is better to go online, find a recipe for the real and true thing (full of gluten!), and then adapt it to be gluten free. So I again ventured to one of my favorite websites, allrecipes.com, and conducted some serious coffee cake searches. Now the best thing about this website is that you can read reviews from all those cooks out there that have tried the recipe. That is the major problem with a cookbook. The recipe may look delicious, but will it turn out that way??? On allrecipes you can read the reviews, look at the modifications people have made, and adapt your own recipe! I think I really do swear by that website now! I even have FP using it all the time as well!!!

Back to my coffee cake.....I found two delicious recipes for a coffee cake that I adapted to make sans gluten and to fit into a bread pan, as I am adamant in using that 13 euro pan whenever possible!!! I have become so confident in my bread endeavors, that I thought I was completely capable of making a coffee cake in a bread pan. Well let me just say next time I either need a bigger pan or less of the batter! I whipped up the cake in no time, dribbled it into the pan, and voila, that I was a genius! However, about 10 min. into the baking process the batter started oozing down the side of the pan. This baby rose more than I thought was possible. I am convinced it is because of the altitude. At one point I got so tired of wiping the dribbly mess off of the pan I contemplated throwing the whole thing out and cutting my loses. But I gutted it out and pulled the cake out when I thought it was done. But in honesty, I had no idea if it was done or just a disaster! But low and behold the cake turned out wonderfully! Now I must say that it looked like a mess in that bread pan and had collapsed in quite a bit, I am still convinced it was because of the altitude, but the taste was spot on. I loved it, FP loved it, and well the roomies didn't try it. One doesn't like dessert and the other, I am not sure what his thoughts were. But it just meant more cake for me!!! I personally think this cake would be a great edition to any get together or for a little tea party. In fact it would be perfect for an afternoon chat with a good friend and a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Coffee Cake
-adapted from allrecipes

-1/3 cup butter
-2/3 cup white sugar
-1 egg
-2/3 cup sour cream
-3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
-1-1/3 cups gf all-purpose flour (I used arrowhead blend)
-3/4 tsp. gf baking powder
-1 tsp. xantham gum
-3/4 tsp. gf baking soda
-3 T brown sugar
-3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Topping

-2 T flour
-1-2 tsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a loaf pan. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, xantham gum, baking powder and baking soda together. In a separate small bowl, combine 3 T brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and nuts.
In a large bowl, cream butter and 2/3 cups white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until well combined. Pour half of batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture on top of batter in pan. Add remaining batter, and sprinkle with topping. To make topping, cut butter into flour and add remaining nut/ sugar mixture. This creates a bit more of a struesel topping. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. You also may find the topping to start to brown, lightly cover with foil if this occurs.

The best breakfast bread ever!

It's official. I found the secret to gluten free baking.

I finally watched the movie Julie and Julia. I felt both amazed and inspired after the movie! I was amazed that Julia had such an easy time fitting into and most importantly living within the French culture! It was like she really was French! Obviously she has not tried living with three French Canadians, or things may have gone a bit differently for her. She probably would have written a book entitled the key to shepards pie instead of 500+delicious French recipes......No, no I am kidding! The movie also inspired me to embrace the culture here and start cooking with a passion again!

Everyone for the most part is very cautious about their gluten in this house, but at times they lack quite a bit. It is mostly from the fact that they all seem to have the need to eat french bread all the time. Now I loved french bread with serious intensity in my gluten eating days, so I understand the temptation to eat it all the time...and well because we obviously live in France where french bread is made!! So the french bread has become my nemesis. Not only does it throw bread crumbs all over the counter, it secretly places them in grocery sacks, on my fruit, and quite honestly it just leaves a trail of crumbs to follow wherever it goes. I started to hate it with serious rage. Finally after hiding the french bread wrapped in 3 sacks in the back of the pantry, I think everyone got the hint. I have not seen my enemy in this house for one week, but I am sure that I will see it again soon.

OK enough about the vile french bread. I took over the kitchen about a week ago and have never been more happy. I have cooked Indian food complete with homemade mango chutney (which I will write about later), stuffed peppers and apple crumble, etc. The roommate has seemed a bit standoffish when I announce that I am making dinner yet again, but too bad, if he had celiac disease as well, maybe I would be more sympathetic! Although I do allow him a couple days a week of cooking just so I don't create too much tension in this house.

Ok on to baking. Before FP and I went on vacation in Italy a week ago. I made some scones from a box I brought with me. My original plan had been to make cranberry scones, but for some reason the French do not enjoy eating dried cranberries. So I was forced to choose another fruit. After much deliberation at the dried fruit section, I decided on the dates. However it was a huge box of dates. Needless to say I had masses of dates left over. So yesterday I decided to make some bread. I have not made any bread yet since my diagnosis. In fact I have always been a bit afraid when baking, as we all know how disgusting some gluten free baked good are. Well I went against the odds and decided to make some date nut bread. As a child I remember my mom buying these boxed breads that I loved. My favorite kind was date nut bread and I honestly can not tell you the last time I ate that bread until yesterday. I spent quite a bit of time googling for recipes, until I combined the knowledge of a gluten free breakfast bread recipe together with a non gluten free recipe of date nut bread. With a deep breath I undertook the impossible, trying to create a moist gluten free bread. And yes I did it. My secret......no not massive amounts of french butter, but sour cream......yes that is right, deliciously rich sour cream. I swear by it now and have used it also in cookies and scones. When my bread had cooled I cut two big slices and spread cream cheese all over one and left the other plain. I took the steaming, sweet smelling pieces of heaven into the bedroom and handed them to my boyfriend who was still in bed. He took a bite and looked at me with astonishment and stated ``oh my god Katherine, this is really really good!`` And trust me, I know when he is lying about my gf food. So we hunkered into bed together and ate the most delicious bread I have tasted in the past year and a half. So please make this bread and pass on the recipe to all those celiacs out there so they too can enjoy a cold morning in bed devouring slice after slice of heaven.

Gluten Free Date Nut Bread

-3/4 cup chopped dates
-3/4 cup liquid (half sour cream, half hot water)
-2 T butter
-1 1/8 cup all purpose gf flour, I used arrowhead blend
-3/4 cup sugar (half white, half raw)
-1/4 cup walnuts for topping
-3/4 tsp. gf baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1 tsp. xantham gum
-1 egg
-3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
-touch of nutmeg
-touch of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine chopped dates, sour cream, hot water, and butter together in bowl. Let this mixture sit for 5 min. Combine flour, baking soda, xantham gum, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon. Combine egg and sugar together and beat with a fork for a couple minutes. Add vanilla extract to egg mixture. Combine flour mixture and date mixture together. Stir and carefully add egg mixture. Slowing stir until just combined. Place mixture into greased loaf pan. Sprinkle chopped walnuts onto bread. Bake for 45-50 min. Check occasionally and cover loosely with foil if top is browning too much. Remove from oven once a toothpick comes out clean when placed in bread. Let cool in the loaf pan.

Sunday Brunch Quiche

I am finally home and have been for a little over ten days. I have been up to my head in appointments, un-packing, caring for the little pup, running around, seeing old friends, etc. etc. Therefore, I have had absolutely no time until today to do a little blogging. Our last trip around Italy was fantastic, hilarious, and full of eating. I will post about it soon, along with a list of wonderful gluten free restaurants. Being home is comforting and relaxing. I have not been my usual chaotic cooking self, but I still have dabbled into some new recipes. My Mom and I hosted a brunch last Sunday for my Mom's sister and her family. They brought some food, I made some food, and it turned out just perfect. I whipped up a couple of old tried and true recipes and then added a new one into the mix. I created a gluten free quiche, that I thought was quite tasty. My cousin even had seconds, although he really will eat just about anything you put in front of him! This recipe is perfect for a brunch, breakfast, or even to go along with a dinner. There are also many variations of quiches that you can create, but I went with the well-known quiche Lorraine, as my boyfriend and I have had a laugh about this quiche, since it is "named" after his Mom!

Quiche Lorraine

~1 GF pie crust, see http://glutenfreeworldtraveler.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-italian-thanksgiving-senza-glutine_04.html

~1/4 cup green onion, chopped
~1/2 cup GF honey ham, chopped
~1/4 cup-1/2 cup shredded white Cheddar
~4 eggs
~1 Tbs Butter
~pinch garlic powder
~pinch salt
~2 cups hot milk, I used 2%

Work pie crust into ball and let it sit in fridge for at least an hour. Remove crust from fridge and roll out to fit your greased quiche pan, I used a glass round pan. Pre-heat oven to 375 and cook crust for 5 minutes or so. You want the crust to set a bit before you pour in the liquids. While pie is starting to cook, saute onions in 1 Tbs butter. Pull the pan out and line with ham and cheese. Beat eggs together and add hot milk, add this mixture to your cooking onions. Cook on low heat until the egg mixtures starts to cook and become thick. Pour this liquid mixture over ham and cheese in pie crust. Cook for 35-45 minutes or until set.

Cinnamon Rolls to die for

I had the most delicious treat of my life the other day, a treat that I never in my life thought I would eat again. I had simply just written this item off and erased it from my mind. I am referring to cinnamon rolls. Warm, sweet, gooey, freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon rolls and I have a long history. I used to eat a pack of cinnastix from Cinnabon's every single time that I was in the airport during college. On many of these occasions I was going home for the holidays, or the summer, or headed back to school. I remember eating cinnastix in many different airports at many different hours of the day, but they always held some comfort for me. As a result, cinnamon rolls remind me of my college years. The years that I really grew up and became the independent, self assured person I am today. So you see, cinnamon rolls relate to a big part of my life. And when I found out I could no longer eat that delicious paper sack filled with cinnastix, I lost a tiny part of myself. Now my trips through the airports are lonely and usually filled with a growling tummy, since it is almost impossible to find something gluten free at the airport.

However, I came across this recipe for cinnamon rolls the other day while browsing the internet. When I first saw the recipe, I thought to myself, there is absolutely no way these will taste the same. But I decided to take a chance. Well low and behold I created something that I never thought my taste buds would get the opportunity to taste again in my life. These cinnamon rolls were crunchy, doughy, sweet, and simply delectable. I was in cinnamon roll heaven. I felt the comfort that I hadn’t felt since my college days. I shared them with everyone I could and not one person could tell they were gluten free. And for me that is the ultimate approval, when a non-celiac likes my treats I am as happy as can be. So I have to thank whoever came up with this recipe, because it definitely was not me. I found this recipe on a couple different blogs, so whoever is the true artist of this recipe....THANK YOU!!! You really are a cooking genius. Celiacs, go pre-heat that oven and whip these babies up, but make sure you whip up an extra batch because once you taste them; you won't be able to stop!

Cinnamon Rolls

~2 tablespoons butter
~1/4 cup sugar
~2/3 cup of milk, room temperature
~1 packet yeast (about 1 tablespoon)
~1 egg
~1/4 cup canola oil
~1/2 cup potato starch
~1 cup corn starch
~1/4 teaspoon baking soda
~2 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
~2 teaspoons baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract ***Note***

*1 - 2 tablespoons sugar, to use when you roll out the dough

Filling

~1/2 cup brown sugar
~1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
~1/3 cup chopped nuts - optional

Glaze

~¾ cup powdered or confectionary sugar
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~milk to thicken

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve, then let sit for 30min. on stove as it is pre-heating. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture after it has sat for at least 30min. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be incredibly soft, but that is perfectly normal. Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square. Sprinkle sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Then pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and then reposition it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Occasionally you'll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets "stuck" under the edges. You might have to occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you're done you've got ABOUT a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square of dough. Remove top piece of wrap. Combine filling ingredients. Spread evenly across dough's surface. (Original recipe poster suggested leaving about a 1 1/2" sugar free edge because when you roll the dough all the sugar shifts and fills this in; otherwise all the sugar spills out).Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. Start with the sugary edge, which will be the center of your roll and roll toward the sugarless edge. Then cut into 8 or 9 slices of similar size, about 1 1/2" wide. Place rolls into a greased round glass pie pan. Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make glaze. The amount of milk you use will depend on how thick you want the glaze to be. Stir until all lumps are dissolved. Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.
***Note***: I used vanilla beans instead of vanilla extract, as I had none at the house. I cut a whole vanilla bean open and used approximately 3/4's of the inside of the bean. Just scrape contents with a knife 2-3 times and that will be enough for the cinnamon buns. Be careful that vanilla does not clump together. Stir it evenly throughout the mixture.

Biscottis that will make you forget you are Celiac!

Now I never considered myself to be a baker. I would occasionally schluff out the homemade chocolate cupcakes or a good chocolate chip cookie, normally though I would just head to the store and buy a mix, which only needed very little of my attention to create. I always admired my friend Leah, who is a baking machine. I don't know anyone else of my age that gets up at 7:30 in the morning a couple days before Christmas to spend the whole day baking for parties. Now that is pure dedication to the baking world. Well now times have changed and I am forced into testing out my baking skills. I use Leah as my inspiration and think if she can do it, so can I! Gluten free baking mixes are basically non-existent in Europe, so I am forced to either follow a homemade recipe or create my own. I have been drinking a lot of tea and coffee over here, so I thought how much I would enjoy an excellent tasting biscotti. Well that led me to my first concoction. I pulled some ideas from other recipes, but highly limited with my ingredients over here, I had to use some creativeness. I was laughing to myself as I created these at 10 o'clock at night waiting for my boyfriend to get back from a hockey game. I had different bags of GF flours strewn about my tiny Italian kitchen and I was literally covered in every GF flour you could think of. At that moment I thought to myself, jeez how easy do non Celiac’s have it, they only have to use a single flour to bake with, whereas I am over here up to my knees in flours half of America probably can't pronounce! But at least our GF baking experiences are literally unforgettable in many ways! In the end the biscotti actually turned out fantastic!

Gluten Free almond chocolate biscotti
-adapted from The Gluten Free Guide to Italy

~1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
~1/2 cup potato starch
~1/4 cup tapioca flour
~1 cup sugar
~1 tsp. baking powder GF
~1 tsp. xantham gum
~3 eggs
~1/2-1 teaspoon almond extract ( depends on how almondy you like them)
*You can also use fresh slivers of almonds and then just a couple drops of almond extract
~1 teas vanilla extract GF
~3 tsp. orange juice, not concentrate

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Once ingredients are mixed roll into a rectangle shape or log shape on baking pan. Bake at 375 for 20min. Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool, about 10 minutes. Then slice the log into ½-1 inch pieces. Turn and lay pieces on their side. Place pan back into oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees for another 20-25 minutes. Biscotti should be hard in center and slightly brown.

Chocolate Coating
~1 GF chocolate bar, preferably 70% dark chocolate
~1-3 tablespoons milk

Heat a very small pot over low heat. Break chocolate into smaller pieces and place in pot. Continue to stir the chocolate as it melts, adding in tiny amounts of milk once the chocolate is almost melted. Continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is almost boiling. However, do not boil mixture as it will burn. If mixture appears too thick, add more milk. Remove from heat and immediately dip half of one end of the biscotti into melted chocolate. Repeat with all biscotti. Allow chocolate to dry before eating.