An easy glutenfree treat: coconut cookies with chocolate pirate coins

Even though my sons birthday is months away, I'm already testing recipes for treats for his schoolmates. Not because I have to see if the recipe works, but to see how much work is involved. Because no matter how often I promise myself to make it easy, I never keep to my word. The result is that I end up in the kitchen for hours and when my husband comes home he shakes his head and then... does nothing except say: "If i was in charge of birthday treats, I'd buy them all a little bag of crisps". Well, how much I hate the time it takes me to make these birthday treats, I would never ever even consider that. Why? Because it's boring, it's an easy way out and it's not exactly healthy now is it? 

Not that my treats are usually very healthy, but they are small, i know what is in them and they are creative. Basically, a bag of crisps is just beneath me. Oh good lord, I am a treat snob! 

But since I am determined to make these treats easier this time, I'm testing a couple of ideas way ahead. This recipe is one of them. 

They are coconut cookies that are very easy to make. The most work is in the chocolate coins as you have to pour those. And I have a mould for them, but it only makes 4 coins at a time. But other than that, this recipe is a breeze. Now let's hope my little pirate loves them too. 

Argh, argh, argh!

This recipe makes 12 coconut macaroons.

Ingredients:

• 125 grams  (4,5 oz) of grated coconut
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon of glutenfree rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 3 egg whites
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of (powdered) icing sugar
• About 175 grams (6 oz) of dark chocolate (for the coins) 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade (300 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Mix the coconut, vanilla sugar, rice flour, xanthan gum and icing sugar in a bowl. 
3. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl to firm peakes.
4. Fold the coconut mixture into the firm eggwhites.
5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and make 12 heaps of dough (it is quite sticky dough by the way) on the parchment paper.
6. Put them in the oven for 30 minutes until they are lightly golden. 
7. leave them to cool on a wire rack when done
8. While the cookies are in the oven, make the chocolate coins. melt the chocolate in a bowl that you place on a pan with softly boiling water. Pour some chocolate into the mould and place it in the freezer to make the chocolate solid again. Slowly take them out of the mould, be careful not to bake them and place them on some baking parchment in the freezer until you have enough coins. 
9. Then pour a little bit of chocolate onto the fully cooled coconut macaroons, put a coin on them and quickly put them in the freezer again. Otherwise the warm chocolate will melt the coins again. 
10. Voila, your pirate treasure treat is finished! 

My Middle Eastern - Mediterranean fusion: bread rolls with yoghurt, feta, pecorino and mint

Yes, yes, I know! Fusion is a horrible word for saying: I took your original recipe, threw in some other ingredients and messed up your dish. To be honest, I don't like the word and the hype that was once created around it, but it got your attention, now didn't it? :-)
Fusion was once a hype, where chef's would make the most horrid combinations by mixing up two dishes from different origin and tadaa... a new cuisine was created. 
How "new" it was I don't know, because fusion is basically what we do daily in the kitchen, isn't it? I mean, the Italian dishes we serve in The Netherlands do by no means resemble the dishes you would eat in Italy. Why? Because we adapt it to our own taste and cooking methods that we are used too. We all do that. I do stuff like that daily in my kitchen. And this recipe is no exception, but in this case I feel a bit of remorse for doing so. Let me explain:

The basic recipe is from an exquisite cookbook called Saha, a culinary trip through the Middle East by Greg and Lucy Malouf. I once bought it as reference when I was working as a concept manager for a chain of Doner restaurants. I just wanted to read up and see how we could eventually expand the menu. You know, get some ideas. The book was just so beautiful and recipes so delicious I kept it on my desk as an ornament. The book just breathed Middle Eastern hospitality and ancient culinary traditions that captured my heart. When I left to another job (I went back to what I love doing most, being a communication consultant and writing for company magazines etc) I took that book with me, determined to cook from it often abiding to the culinary traditions that I loved when reading the recipes. Well, I haven't cooked from it, until today. And I left that job 5,5 years ago. So it was about time. 
And now, when I make the first recipe from it, I do that fusion thing to it. I'm sorry Greg and Lucy. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for putting a twist on your recipe. I promise next time I will make this recipe with Haloumi (which my supermarket in my un-cosmopolitan village just didn't have) and with parmesan instead of pecorino. I solemnly swear. 

If you could only smell these babies! 

Ingredients:

• 325 grams (11.5 oz) of basic glutenfree breadflour
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of xanthan gum
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of fiber husk
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of dried yeast
• 8 grams (0.28 oz) of granulated sugar
• 5 grams (0.125 oz) of iodized salt
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of lukewarm water
• 200 grams (7 oz) of Turkish yoghurt
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of grated feta (if you want to do it right, use Haloumi)
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of grated pecorino (or the original parmesan!) and a bit to put on top. 
• 1 tablespoon of mint

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees farenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. This will help the dough to proof. 
2. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, following the ranking of the ingredients above. 
3. Mix it all with an electric mixer till all is combined and you a left with a lump of sticky dough. Don't be alarmed, glutenfree dough needs to be a bit sticky. It needs the extra moisture in the dough to help it proof.
4. Now wet your hands with lukewarm water and created little balls of dough. The water will keep the dough from sticking to your hands. I made 8 and put them on a tray lined with baking parchment. Put them close togehter, so when they proof they will merge a bit. You can tear them off at the dinner table (or lunch table as we did ;-)).
5. Brush some olive oil on each roll and then top with some grated pecorino. (Also, the pecorino is not in the original recipe, but I figured it would make the rolls look even more pretty)
6. Put them in the preheated oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. 
7. Take them out, let them rest a while while you preheat the oven to 250 degrees centigrade, 482 degrees fahrenheit). When the oven is at the right temperature, bake the rolls in about 15-20 minutes till golden and they make your mouth water.
8. Let them cool a bit, but serve them while still warm.

Enjoy!

Glutenfree Turkish Pide that could easily be Focaccia

Yesterday I was writing down a possible glutenfree recipe at 6 am so my kid could take that and the ingredients (and our own baking parchment & mixer) to his outer school activities, because they had planned to bake Turkish pide. I was anxious to let my boy participate, because what if they didn't do it right and my boy got sick? What if they, by mistake, would contaminate his glutenfree stuff? What if they would bake his bread with the other 'gluten containing pide' in one oven? What if my recipe would fail as I had never attempted it myself (which was the least of my worries) and Thijmen would be all upset? What if? What if? What if? 

That is the problem with glutenintolerence. Not everybody knows how to go about it, keeping stuff separate, or thinking a bit of gluten can't hurt. They would never do it on purpose, the ladies at the activity centre are usually very careful, but keeping seperate butter, bread and so on for lunch is a bit different than baking with 15 kids, where you have to help them all. 
And baking glutenfree is different as a whole, because glutenfree dough does not react the way normal dough does. Because the gluten, that make normal dough flexible and supple, aren't in the flour. So you need to pay attention and act as you go along. Add more water or sometimes more flour, let it proof more, or bake longer. You have to act to what you see happening to your dough and you need to know your dough. That sounds very 'new age' but it is true. Heck, it is the case with normal bread too, conditions aren't always the same and it is a product of nature. But with glutenfree it is even a bit more so, because you need to create good conditions for the bread. That is why I always put a cup of water in the oven to create better proof conditions. It can fail so easily. So I had written down every step and  a gazillion warnings not to contaminate Thijmens bread in any way possible (they would probably think I am a overbearing control freak, but they have never seen him sick, I have. Too often). I had even written down my phone number and to call if they had any, really ANY questions at all and not to hesitate to do so. And that had to be it, because no way I would let my reservations keep my kid from fun activities. I just had to trust them. 

But all my worries weren't necessary. My husband texted me that morning: "They are not baking bread. They have no ovens. I have everything with me." 
No oven? Right, that will make baking pretty difficult. But since I had written down the recipe and measured all the ingredients, I decided to bake with Thijmen today. Together. Safely and guaranteed glutenfree.

Based on the recipe we created a bread that could be Pide as well as Focaccia. Glutenfree bread is never exactly like normal bread, so don't expect it to be. This bread isn't any different. But it tastes wonderful, isn't dry or crumbly and in a glutenfree diet it is a good substitute for real Pide and Focaccia. We ate it for lunch, but you could also serve it with dinner, or with some humous or olivespread or sundried tomato spread. 

Is it Pide or Focaccia?

This recipe makes one small pide.

Ingredients:

• 200 ml (7 fl oz) of lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 10 grams (0.25 oz) of dried yeast
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of bakers salt/iodized salt
• 250 grams (9 oz) of basic glutenfree bread flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon of fiber husk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees Centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. 
2. Put the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl. Let it rest for 2-3 minutes.
3. Then add the olive oil, salt and a quarter of the flour. Mix it all well and then slowly add the rest of the flour, bit by bit, mixing it in till you have a firm ball.
4. Put the dough (still in the bowl) in the oven and let it proof for 40-45 minutes. 
5. Take the dough out of the oven and preheat the oven to 230 degrees Centigrade (450 degrees Fahrenheit).
6. Roll out the dough on parchment paper, form it into an oval and punch small holes in the top of the dough with your finger. Now brush it with some olive oil. If you want it to resemble Focaccia, you could sprinkle sea salt and rosemary sprigs over the top. Also you should make it a square or a rectangle shape. 
7. Put it in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. Check every once in a while and you may want to turn the bread over once the top is lightly golden. This will give you an even, crispy crust.
8. Take it out of the oven when ready. Brush over it with some olive oil once again and let it cool before you serve it.

My youngest munchkin enjoying his Pide for lunch.
Recipe approved!

Glutenfree High Tea-worthy Strawberry Teabread

Sometimes you just want to bake something. Don't you? Well, I do. So yesterday morning I leafed through one of my gazillion cookbooks and saw a recipe for Strawberry Teabread and it made my mouth water. And since my hands itched to bake something, I decided to make a glutenfree version of it. It is made with fresh strawberries and strawberries happen to be both my kids favorite fruit, so I knew they would love it.

In fact, in Thijmens first year as a diagnosed celiac I bought them every week. In bulk. Whether they were in season or not. In winter they were ridiculously expensive but we bought them anyway. Why? Because he loved them mixed through his glutenfree porridge. And since the kid had to eat that glutenfree porridge every morning and every evening (as dessert) to make him gain weight (he ate 5-6 meals spread over the day, just to make him grow, to make him stronger). We did everything to make that enjoyable for him. So strawberries it was. And 5 years later, he still adores them.

This teabread is a great addition to any High Tea. It's light, it is delicate and it's full of flavour. And it is sooooo simple!

Easy does it with this simple cake

This recipe makes one small teabread. 

Ingredients:

• 115 grams (4 oz) of fresh strawberries, chopped.
• 115 grams (4 oz) of butter (on room temperature)
• 115 grams (4 oz) of icing sugar
• 125 grams (4,5 oz) of rice flour
• 40 grams (1.5 oz) of almond flour
• 7 grams (0.246 oz) of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon of fiber husk
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade (325 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Mix the icing sugar and the butter in a bowl till light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the eggs one by one, till dissolved into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Now add the flour, xantahn gum, baking soda and fiber husk. Whisk it in.
5. Fold in the strawberries.
6. Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin.
7. Put it in the oven for about 40-50 minutes till firm and golden.
8. Tip it out of the cake tin onto a wire rack (carefully!!) and leave it to cool.

Enjoy!

Glutenfree Spitzbuben & an insight on travelling with celiacs

Don't we all love holidays? I do, but everytime we get into the car i realise our holidays are different than those of non-celiacs. Two weeks ago we stepped into our car to drive to beautiful Switzerland and it was filled to the ceiling with stuff. Clothes, toys, shoes, books and so on and in our case also with glutenfree food, our breadmaker, scale, mixer and breadmaking ingredients. A holiday by plane is not an option, we take everything with us. Just to be safe. Not to mention that buying everything on your holiday destination is not always possible or often very expensive as well.

Switzerland is a long haul from Holland, so we made an extra stop in beautiful Lauf in Germany to spend the night. We had had a troublesome long journey and so we stopped at 'mooie Donald' as my youngest calls MacDonalds. In English it would mean pretty Donald. I love MacDonalds for taking my kids intolerance seriously. Not so seriously that they have a glutenfree burger... But... When I ordered a burger without bun the girl behind the counter ran to the kitchen to instruct them properly. And that makes all the difference. And thus made my kids long ass day wonderful.

When we arrived for breakfast in the hotel the next morning people where pointing at me carrying my kids glutenfree bread and crackers and saying: "Look, they have an allergy or something..."  I felt like walking up to them and say: "Yes people, that exists too. Can you please enjoy your own meal instead of making my kids feel like a freak show."

It goes to show how uncommon this autoimmune disease often still is. That also was the case in the village that we stayed. I love it there, it's quiet, beautiful, the people are friendly but allergies and intolerances are still very uncommon and not all can acommedate or even understand it. One day we promised our boys French fries after al long walk at a place where glutenfree French fries weren't a problem. When we checked to be sure (never assume, that is our motto), the waitress told us it was a problem, they did not bake them separately anymore. They used the deep fryer for potato croquesttes as well, and those often contain gluten. We feared we had another glutenfree trauma on our hands again, with two inconsolable kids. The sad kids touched the waitresses heart and she went to check again, with my little card that i always carry with me that lists the most common glutenfree and glutencontaining products and hubby in tow. Thank god there turned out not to be a trauma, the croquettes were glutenfree and the kids could eat their much desired fries. And the restaurant learned a lesson too, on how a small thing can make a difference when it comes to glutenfree. They even copied my card for future reference. 

While the kids ate their own home made glutenfree bread, we bought ours at the local bakery. The first time Thijmen pressed his face against the cookie display and pointed at the local cookies with a smiley on them and said: "I can't have those can i?" When I told him no, he said: "But can you make them?" and I told him: " Yes, at home". And the next day and every following day he would say: "Mom, we will make those at home, right?" And this week we did.

Ingredients:

• 250 g (9 oz) of glutenfree riceflour
• 125 g (4.5 oz) of butter
• 100 g  (3.5 oz) of sugar
• 60 g (2.25 oz) of almond flour
• 1 egg
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• a pinch of salt
• one teaspoon of xanthan gum
• one teaspoon of fiber husk
• ± ½ a jar of strawberry preserve 
• powdered/icing sugar for dusting the cookies

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 degrees Fahrenheit..
2. Add almond flour, riceflour, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and egg in a bowl and add the butter (cold, in cubes). Mix to a firm dough.
3. Make a big ball and put it in clingfilm. Leave in the fridge for an hour.
4. Roll out the dough and cut out circles, an even amount. 
5. Put them on a baking tray lined with parchement paper. 
6. Punch out faces from half of the cookies.
7. Put them in the oven for 10 -12 minutes till they are golden brown. Leave to cool.
8. Put a teaspoon of jam on the base cookies and then press on a cookie with a face. 
9. Dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Fragrant feta, parsley and dill bread

Yesterday my 89 year old tough, sweet, wonderful, opinionated grandma passed away.  My last grandparent, my mothers mother and my kids oh so beloved nanna. We have been very lucky to have had her around for so long, but her passing hurts none the less. But because weirdly enough the world moves on while you are grieving, baking bread was on the agenda for today. I decided to do some therapy baking and try something new, while contemplating my grandma and her love for food. Or better said, her not existing love for cooking and so on. My grandma has never loved cooking, she ate because it kept her alive & kicking. Of course there were things she loved to eat, but cooking never was her favorite task. Where my mom and I get our love for cooking and baking from we don't know. Not my gran, that's for sure. Her oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts or Dutchies in English) and her (mostly collapsed and thus wonderfully sticky and gooey) cake on the other hand were legendary. My gran came from a family of 11 (and only one brother now remains, so sad) and every New Years Eve my gran would bake buckets full of oliebollen. Even when her huge family decreased over the years with brothers and sisters falling away, she kept baking them in buckets. We ate tons of them, even if they looked dreadful, they tasted marvellous. I don't think she ever wrote down her recipe, and I can never ask her now. Her "oliebollen" will stay a legend from now on. 

While kneading my dough I also contemplated the possibility of my grandma being a celiac without knowing. Because my gran has had tummy troubles her whole life, but never had herself checked out. My hubs and I have so often thought: what if I baked glutenfree bread for her too, would that have helped her somewhat? But she was so old and stuck in her ways and attached to her basic wheatbread that we never pressed on. She would've been so sad as to know she made her oldest puppy (that is how she always referred to my boys) so sick, so maybe it's better that we will never know. And that she will never know for sure, because I know the thought has crossed her mind too. 

As I was thinking of my wonderful gran, my hands worked seperately and created this soft, fragrant bread, made with Turkish yoghurt, feta, dill, parsley and paprika. It would be something my gran would never eat (way too exotic for her) but that she would be very proud of me for making it. Love you gran!

This bread is very fragrant, you'll smell it through your whole house when baking

Ingredients: 

• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of butter
• 75 ml (2.75 fl oz) of milk
• 20 grams (0.75 oz) of yeast
• 175 grams (6 oz) of Turkish yoghurt
• 75 ml (2.75 fl oz) of olive oil
• 1 egg
• A teaspoon of iodized salt
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons of fiber husk
• 450 grams (1 lb) of glutenfree flour
• 200 grams (7 oz) of feta
• 3 tablespoons of dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons of dried dill
• 1 teaspoon of paprika powder
• 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. 
2. Melt the butter and put it in a bowl to let it cool a bit. heat it the milk, just a bit so it's warm, do not let it boil, stir in the yeast and mix in the olive oil and the yoghurt. Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Set the egg yolk aside and mix in the egg white in with the butter and the milk, yeast olive oil mixture as well. Add the sugar, iodized salt, xanthan gum and fiber husk and mix in. 
3. Add the flour and gradually work it through. When it's well combined, add the crumbled feta and the herbs and spices. Knead those through as well and then transfer the dough to a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Form a loaf and carve on the top a couple of times. 
4. Put the baking tray in the preheated oven and let the dough proof for about 30-40 minutes. Take it out of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit).
5. Mix the left over egg yolk with two tablespoons of water and brush it on top of the loaf. Leave it to rest another 10 minutes while your oven preheats. Then put it into the oven for about 35-40 minutes till it's golden. 
6. Let it cool a bit before carving it, this bread is very soft and crumbles easily. 

Enjoy!

Lemon, lemon and more lemon cheesecake (and some almonds too)

As I type this I realise that this is my 40th recipeblog. Wow, time flies when you bake like a maniac. To those who read my recipes faithfully, thank you! To those sharing them to share them with other celiacs: thank you too! 

To those who make them or recreate them, I hope your cake, bread or cookie turns out even better than my versions. I hope you enjoy making them as much as i do. Please let me know if my recipes work or fail for you. I love improvements. And thank you for your faith in my silly recipes. 

This lemon cheesecake was born in my head. I saw a recipe for an almond cake, but I found their topping of yoghurt and forest fruits a bit plain. Since I love citrus fruits and the warm weather here asks for a fresh cake this cheesecake sprang to mind. I could almost taste it, al I had to do was recreate what i conjured up in my head.

A summery, fresh cheesecake with a soft base

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 250 grams (9 oz) of almond flour
• 250 grams (9 oz) of finely granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• The zest of 1 lemon and a tablespoon of it's juice

For the cheese layer

• 200 grams (7 oz) of cream cheese (I used Monchou cheese)
• 250 ml (9 fl oz) of double cream
• 1 packet of whipping cream stiffner
• The rest of the lemon juice
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of caster sugar

For the topping:

• Half a jar of Lemon curd (I used Chivers smooth Lemon Curd,it's glutenfree and so yummy it's addictive)
• 1-2 tablespoons of water
• 1-2 tablespoons of powder sugar 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Mix the almond flour with the granulated sugar in a bowl
3. Add the eggs and whisk them in.
4. Add the lemon zest and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Save the rest of the juice of the lemon for the cream cheese layer.
5. Mix it all well and pour the mixture into a lined and buttered spring cake tin.
6. Put the almond cake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes till it's all golden and smells heavenly.
7. Let it cool for half an hour. 
8. When the base is suffienctly cooled down, you can finish the lemon cream cheese-filling and top it with Lemon Curd. 
9. Mix the sugar with the cream cheese and the rest of the lemon juice.
10. Whip the double cream with the whipping cream stiffener. Add the cream cheese-mixture to it and slowly fold it in. 
11. Spread the filling on the almond cake base. 
12. Put the lemon curd in a tiny bowl, add the water to make the curd more fluid. Add a bit of powdered sugar so it will make a nice glaze in the fridge. 
13. Spread the lemon curd mixture on the cream cheese. 
14. Put the cheesecake into the fridge for a couple of hours for a firm double cream and fresh cream cheese filling. You can make this pie/cake a day in advance and it will be perfect the day after as well.

Enjoy!