Lemon & Honey cookies

I not only bake for my kids or my blog, I bake for my colleagues too. Almost two weeks ago I had a work dinner and I spent half the evening taking requests from colleagues for cookies. My cookie baking reputation at work has taken a flying leap. And every now & then I indulge them. And I always love their reaction: "You can't tell this is gluten free!" Well, duhhh, of course not. Gluten free does not equal cardboard cookies. Not if you do it right.

But first I needed a recipe for cookies that were delicious, taste like summer & that I could make in enormous quantities. So I adapted another recipe that had the consistency I was looking for with honey and lemon and a bit more sugar to match the summery feel I wanted. This is the result. So I first made a batch for my little men and soon I'll be baking a gigantic amount of cookies & I'll take a tour to visit all the cookie begging colleagues and bring them some. 

They may not look like summer, but they taste like it all the same!

This recipe makes two dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1.5 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of light caster sugar
• The zest of two lemons
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of butter
• 4 tablespoons of honey

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit)
• Put all the ingredients in one big bowl and mix till you have a combined dough. It will feel soft, but not extremely sticky.
• Pour some gluten rice free flour on a clean kitchen surface, kneed the dough on it and then roll it out with a rolling pin. Cut out cookies with your favourite cookie cutters. Repeat until you have used up all the dough.
• Put the cookies on baking trays lined with baking parchment and put in the oven for about 15 minutes until slightly risen and golden. 
• Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely before you serve them with a cup of tea or coffee. 

Enjoy! My boys loved them and I think they have a new favourite cookie.

Sinful Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I could tell these cookies would be fabulous just by tasting the dough. Crunchy, velvety dough full of chocolate. And you know what makes it so fabulous? Loads of full fat butter, sugar, vanilla & egg yolks. Lots of stuff that basically is not healthy for you, but oh so delicious every now & then. 

Those of you who know me a little know that I'm totally horrified by the fact that some people seem to think that the gluten free diet is a good way to lose weight. It's not, it's a diet that helps people get their health back. That doesn't mean that I'm opposed to living healthy either. Those that know me well know I've struggled with my weight for a period of my life and the only way I got back to a healthy weight was by cutting down portions, eating healthier (read loads of veggies, fruits, rice, wholemeal bread and such and above all no more processed packaged foods) and exercising way more (riding my bike to work every day). So I get people wanting to live healthy. I just don't believe that the gluten free diet is going to do you any favours. Because gluten aren't your enemy unless you have celiac disease. Sugar, fat & such are. But if you don't eat unhealthy stuff all day, every day, it's ok to indulge yourself every once in a while. And that's what I've done by making these cookies. Cookies that I'll serve to my kids and some of my colleagues tomorrow because I think they deserve a bit of indulgence. And I may just have one myself. ;-)

This recipe makes about 20 huge cookies. 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams (9 oz) of full fat butter
• 250 grams (9 oz) of light caster sugar
• 250 grams (9 oz) of (sticky) rice flour 
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda or cream of tartar
• 0.5 a teaspoon of iodised salt
• the scraped seeds of a vanilla bean
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of white chocolate
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of dark chocolate

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade or 350 degrees fahrenheit.
• I bought to bars of chocolate and bashed them to smithereens with my meat hammer (make sure you have some big chunks left in there too for good measure).
• Put all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix them until you have above mentioned crunchy velvety dough with tons of chocolate.
• I rolled out the dough (on a gluten free, clean surface) till it was about 0.5 cm (almost 0.25 of an inch) thick and punched out round cookies with cookie cutter with a diameter of 7 cm (2.5 inch). I put them on a baking tray (make sure you leave a lot of space in between) and put them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. 
• Leave to cool & then impress your friends, family, colleagues (or yourself) with them as you serve them with a cup of coffee.

Gluten-Free Easter Bunny bread rolls

This week my boys will have Easter brunch at school, after the Easter service in the local Catholic church. It is a nice end to the church service and a wonderful beginning of the Easter weekend. But it is always one of those days that my boys realize they eat differently. That they're the odd one out. The rest of their class will eat the brunch served by school and they will be eating their own gluten free bread rolls. Because school won't provide a gluten free brunch for them. Part of me understands, because the chance of glutening the kids is huge, and you don't want to be responsible for that, but on the other hand it is still a bit sad that school can't provide for kids with special diets. But... it is what is is, so I made my boys these Easter Bunny bread rolls, so they have something special at the brunch.

These are so easy to make, you can make them with your kids. 

I used Peak's Free From fibre-rich bread mix to make these airy bread rolls, but I did not quite follow the instructions on the box. This recipe makes about 12 Easter Bunny's.

Ingredients:

• 450 grams  (1 lb) of Peak's Free From fibre-rich bread mix
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of yeast
• 12 grams (0.3 oz) of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml (9 fl oz) of warm milk
• 60 ml (2.03 fl oz) of extra vergine olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of molasses
• oatmal to make noses
• black currants to make the bunnies eyes
• an egg (whisked) to brush on top of the bunnies
• a bit of oat flour to roll out the dough and prevent it from sticking to the surface & the rolling pin

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade /350 degrees fahrenheit
2. Mix the bread mix, xanthan gum, yeast and sugar in a big bowl.
3. Mix the milk, eggs, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and molasses in another bowl.
4. Add the milk mixture to the bread mix and beat with an electric mixer till all is combined and you have a sticky dough.
5. Dust a clean surface with a bit of oat flour and roll out the dough till it's about a centimeter or half an inch thick. Dust the top with oat flour too when you roll out your dough. Then use a (large) bunny shaped cookie cutter to cut out the bread rolls.
6. Brush the top of the bread bunnies with the whisked egg and then make noses from the oat flakes & press in black currants for eyes. 
7. Put the bread rolls in the warm oven and bake for about 35 minutes until golden and fluffy.
8. Put them on a wire rack to let them cool. 

Serve them with a bit of salted butter and some cheese. Happy gluten free Easter!

Blueberry & Lemon Cheesecake

I'm not going to write a whole intro to this recipe because basically I've baked this for the sheer fun of it. I wanted to bake and since I yearn for more springlike (or better yet summery) weather, I made this blueberry and lemon cheesecake. Both flavours represent sunny weather for me and they go together so incredibly well! 

Also, I don't feel like preaching about gluten free all the time. This luxurious and rich cheese cake is my way of saying: see... living gluten free ain't so bad. You can have cheese cake & eat it all! 

Here's how it turned out.

Yeah, I know.... it tastes as good as it looks, I promise!

Ingredients:

Base

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of soft butter
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of raw cane sugar
• 200 grams  (7 oz) of gluten free rice flour

Cheesecake

• 600 grams (1 lb 5 oz)of softened cream cheese, softened
• 200 grams (7 oz) of sugar
• 15 grams (0.5 oz)of vanilla sugar
• 85 grams (3 oz) of sticky rice flour (gluten free) 
• half a teaspoon of baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 125 ml (4 fl oz) of sour cream
• grated zest of one lemon
• juice of one lemon
• 200 grams (7 oz) of fresh blueberries

Lemon & cream cheese frosting

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of cream cheese, room temperature
• 50 grams (3.5 oz) of butter, room temperature
• 50 ml (2 fl oz) of sour cream
• 250 grams (9 oz) of powdered sugar
• grated zest of one lemon
• lemon juice 2 tablespoons
• about 100 grams (3.5 oz) of blueberries for decoration

Instructions:

Base:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade/ 400 degrees fhrenheit
2. Line a spring cake tin with baking parchment & butter the sides
3. Mix the butter, sugar & rice flour in a bowl till you have a crumbly mixture. Pour it in the spring tin & cover the base of the spring tin pressing the mixture to form a solid base. Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until it starts to turn golden & take it out of the oven. Let it cool down.

Cream cheese filling: 

1. Reduce oven to 150 degrees centigrade / 300 degrees fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, rice flour and baking soda until combined (Use low speed to keep less air from getting into the batter). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating slowly and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
4. Add the sour cream, lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat on low speed until well combined.  
5. Now fold in the blueberries with a spatula so they stay intact. 
6. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the (shortbread) base.
7. Place spring tin(covered with aluminum foil) in the oven.
8. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
9. Turn off the heat and leave cheesecake in oven with door closed for 30 minutes.
10. Remove cheesecake from oven and chill it in the refrigerator.

Decorate:

1. Combine cream cheese , sour cream and butter and mix until smooth.
2. Add lemon zest and powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add lemon juice and mix until smooth.
4. Once cheesecake is cool and firm, remove from spring tin and place on serving plate. Cover with icing. Sprinkle blueberries on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!

Carrot Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

I always bake gluten free, even for my own birthday. Why? Because I do not want to risk any cross contamination in my kitchen and in my baking products. The only gluten products that come into my kitchen are my breakfast crackers & our bread that we religiously keep away from the gluten free stuff. Our dinner is always gluten free, I do not want to cook two seperate meals.

So that also means that the birthday cakes for my husband and my birthday are always gluten free too. No fuss, and basically (if I do it right) people don't even taste the difference. This year I wanted to make a carrot cake. I had never made one gluten free, so now was as good as a time as any. When I googled carrot cake I stumbled on this Dutch recipe and it sounded so delicious that I just needed to make a gluten free version of it. And that is more than just substituting the flour, because gluten free flour react differently than normal flour, so i needed to make some changes in the recipe. Here's how it turned out:

There's tons & tons of cream cheese frosting on top to give the cake some extra zing!

Ingredients:
Cake:

• 450 grams (1 lb) of grated carrots
• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of gluten free cake flour (I used Schar's mix C) 
• 200 grams (7 oz) of raw cane sugar
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of grated coconut
• 2,5 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• the zest of 1 orange
• half a teaspoon of iodized salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of grated nutmeg
• 0.5 teaspoon of powdered ginger 
• 0.5 teaspoon of powdered cloves
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 225 ml (8 fl oz) of olive oil
• 125 ml (4 fl oz) of buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of chopped walnuts 
• 100 gram (3.5 oz)  of chopped raisins (sultanas)

Orange & cream cheese frosting

• 300 grams (10.5 oz)(3 of cream cheese 
• 3 tablespoons of fresh cheese (quark)
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of powdered sugar 
• zest of one orange
• 2-3 tablespoons of orange juice.
• about 50 grams (1.75 oz) of chopped walnuts to decorate.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade/350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Take a big bowl (you need a big one, because this amount makes a whole lot of batter!!!) and mix the flour, cane sugar, grated coconut, grated carrot, vanilla sugar, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered ginger, powdered cloves and the orange zest. 
3. Take another bowl and mix the eggs with the buttermilk & olive oil.
4. Mix the egg, oil & buttermilk mixture in with the huge amount of flour, spices, carrots & coconut mixture. Make sure it is mixed well. If your mixture remains a bit dry, add a bit of extra buttermilk.
5. Now fold in the chopped walnuts and raisins.
6. Butter a round spring tin and line it with parchment paper. Pour in the batter and softly even it out with a spoon.
7. Put it in the oven for about 50-60 minutes until it is nice & golden.
8. Let the cake cool completely before you decorate it with the cream cheese frosting. To make the frosting mix the cream cheese, fresh cheese, orange juice & powdered sugar till all is combined. Spread it on top of the cake.  Sprinkle the cream cheese frosting with orange zest & chopped walnuts.

Enjoy!

Mascarpone & parmesan bread rolls with chives & pine nuts

Before I share this recipe with you all, there's something that I need to get off my chest.

I've had it with this whole fad concept that people seem to think that gluten free is. I've also had it with people eating gluten free solely because they think it's healthy for them. I really don't know how to make this any clearer but: gluten free does not equal healthier people. You are basically denying yourself nutritients: vitamins & minerals because you avoid gluten without any medical reason to do so. Wheat, rye, spelt, whatever.... it's not unhealthy for you (unless you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy). And if you don't have a medical reason to avoid gluten, neither are the gluten. Eat the damn stuff, just do it with moderation. These grains contain nutrients you need & that celiacs need to compensate for with other foods to get their daily intake. Just stop eating all the processed shit that food companies try to sell you. Because that all does contain crap you do not want to eat on a regular basis. Just eat healthy and do not believe the hype, because that is pure marketing. It does not mean it's valid or true. And you are simply making the life of people who have no other choice but to live gluten free very, very difficult. Because you feed the common thought that gluten free is a fad and that you do not need to take it seriously. 

And to all the people on the other side of the spectrum that are rolling their eyes and questioning living gluten free: some people really do have a medical reason to eat gluten free. And it's a very valid one. I honestly hope you don't ever have to go through this strict way of life, where you have to watch out what you eat, to make sure your food does not get contaminated. Because one crumb of bread or a bit of wheat flour can make you sick. And I mean really, really sick. And yes weird things such as cosmetics, play doh or glue can contain gluten and if you forget to wash your hands it will contaminate your food. Just like that. For real. It's not a joke. My 8 year old is proof. He has celiac disease and he is doing remarkably well. Most of the time. He is very strict on his diet, but his intestines will always be his weak spot. Even if he sticks to his diet. Right now he is home with tummy cramps and other stuff that comes with it, solely because the stomach flu virus he picked up is harder on him than it is on others. And he is suffering from it longer than you & I would. He has this disease for life. So trust me, it's real. It's damn real.

Rant over. Here's the recipe to the mascarpone & parmesan bread rolls I made for my sons. Because living gluten free may be hard and serious 'shit', it's not the end of the world either. 

Ingredients:

• 250 ml (9 fl oz) of buttermilk
• 1  large egg
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of mascarpone cheese
• 450 grams (1 lb) of gluten free bread flour (I used Le Poole mix for white bread)
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons of fiber husk
• 10 grams (0.25 oz) of granulated sugar
• half a teaspoon of iodized salt
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of grated parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons of chopped chives
• 1 egg yolk, two tablespoons of water & pine nuts for decoration

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees centigrade (110 degrees fahrenheit) & put a bowl of water in the oven. The water will help the dough proof.
2. Put all the ingredients (except for the pine nuts) into a big bowl in the order you see above. 
3. Mix it all until you have a firm but sticky dough.
4. Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces and form them into rolls. I used the handle of a wooden spoon to make indentations on top (in the middle) of each roll. Just because it looks nice. 
5. Put the rolls onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment & put it in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes to let the dough proof.
6. Take the dough out of the oven and turn up the heat of the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit).
7. Mix the egg yolk with the water & brush it on top of the bread rolls. Sprinkle with the pine nuts.
8. Put the bread rolls back into the oven for about 30-35 minutes until they are golden. 
9. Let them cool on a wire rack before you serve them, although my son ate his straight from the oven.

Enjoy!

Fluffy peanut butter cookies with a chocolate surprise

The recipe is based on this brilliant recipe that popped up on my Tumblr feed and I decided to make a gluten free version of it because my youngest son is a huge, huge fan of peanut butter. And of chocolate sprinkles. I fear that slight addiction is all my fault, because when I was pregnant with my youngest son I suddenly developed a craving for peanut butter & chocolate sprinkles sandwiches. When I was pregnant with my first I ate tons of olives. Guess what he loves? Yeah...

Anyway, I decided to add a little twist to the recipe and hid a chocolate button in the centre of each cookie. That way my youngest had cookie that combined his favorite sandwich toppings: peanut butter & chocolate. In the next batch I'm putting in a bit more, because the balance isn't quite right yet. There isn't enough chocolate in the cookie. So f you make it, pout in a bigger chunk of chocolate & you'll be very pleased with the end result! 

Here's how mine turned out:

See, not enough chocolate. but delicious all the same!

This recipe makes about 25 medium cookies.

Ingredients: 

• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of peanut butter 
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of butter
• 200 grams (7 oz) of raw cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of gluten free rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• some raw can sugar to coat the cookies with

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees centigrade/350 degrees fahrenheit. Using an electric mixer, cream peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl until it's smooth. Add the raw cane sugar; beat it until it is fully combined. Add the eggs and vanilla sugar, and continue beating until creamy.
2. First sift your flour in a separate bowl so it will be light & airy, sift the baking powder and xanthan gum as well. The xanthan gum is needed so your cookies won't crumble. Then whisk together the flour, baking powder & xanthan gum. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar & peanut butter mixture, beating on low speed.
3. Prepare baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or lightly greased aluminum foil. Place raw cane sugar on a plate. Roll (table) spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls, press a chocolate button or chunk in the middle and then roll each ball between your hands. Roll balls in sugar to coat them completely.
4. Place cookie balls 3 cm / 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Bake until cookies begin to puff up slightly, about 12-15 minutes, until cookies just brown around the edges and crackle on top. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool at least 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Easy to bake cinnamon rolls a la Wendy

You know that moment when you read a recipe and think: "Man, I would do that completely different and it would be absolutely amazing?" Or am I the only one cocky enough to think that? (I do hope some of you who actually use my recipes think that every now & then and improve my recipes. Because there is always room for improvement!)
The longer I'm doing the gluten free baking stuff the more I recognize a good recipe or one that could be improved. Simply because I've baked so much I just know how certain components go together or how gluten free dough reacts. So if you are just starting out & wonder what the f*ck you got landed with when you received the diagnose of celiac disease: it does get better. The more you bake, the better you become at it. It's just a new way of baking and accepting that the old way is not going to work. 

This recipe for easy cinnamon rolls is one of those: "Man I would do that differently"-recipes. I knew certain components were missing to make the dough more like "real" cinnamon rolls. More fluffy, less compact. Why settle for ok, if it can be wonderful, right? 
The fact is, my first version was sort of ok. It had the consistency I wanted, but the taste was still a bit off. Turned out I used the wrong combination of flours and too much baking soda. Bummer! So here's the recipe to my improvement of the improvement. You still with me? So don't be discouraged if something doesn't work out the first time. Just try again and change your recipe a bit.

This recipe makes about 12 cinnamon rolls and you whip them up in about 45 minutes or so. A quick fix if you suddenly have guests and you need to serve them something delicious.

Fluffy, soft, yummy cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of soft butter
• 1 egg
• 40 grams (1.5 oz) of full fat yoghurt
• 20 grams (0.75 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 175 grams (6 oz) of basic bread flour (and a bit more for dusting your work surface and rolling out your dough)
• 5 grams (0.125 oz) of xanthan gum
• 5 grams (0.125 oz) of baking soda
• half a teaspoon of iodized salt
• 40 grams (1.5 oz) of finely granulated sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon of cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees centigrade or 325 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Put the butter, egg, yoghurt, vanilla sugar and honey in a bowl and mix it till it's creamy and combined. Add the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt and mix it into the creamy butter mixture. Your dough can be quite sticky. If it is, add a bit of extra flour. 
3. Dust a clean work surface with a bit of flour and roll out your dough into a rectangle shape. 
4. Mix the granulated sugar with the cinnamon to create cinnamon sugar and spread it over the dough. Leave a border with no sugar so the dough can stick toghter when you roll it up. 
5. You roll up the dough from the short side of your rectangle. Then slice it up in tiny rolls. If some cinnamon sugar falls out of your cinnamon rolls, just press the top into it, so you get a nice layer on top of your cinnamon rolls, as well as in between. 
6. Put them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and put them in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. They'll come out all risen and golden. 
7. Let them cool on the tray before you serve them with a cup of tea (or coffee if you so please)
8. Enjoy!