Paula of Free Life Gluten Free adopted Kalinda from Wheat Free Meat Free and made her Vegetarian Chicken Salad. Paula called the recipe amazing, and told us that “I enjoyed it in so many ways…on Schar crispbread, on lettuce, with my pita bread, and straight out of the bowl.” She found Kalinda’s substitution of chickpeas for chicken to be brilliant, and though that this recipe “the perfect replacement to chicken salad.” After seeing her pictures and hearing about the recipe, I found myself agreeing, especially because Toddler Yum has developed a fondness for the rotund legume and would no doubt gobble it up in a creamy mayonnaise sauce. Not to mention that it sounds absolutely delectable and I’d like it in my own lunchbox! Thank you, Paula, for introducing us to this promising recipe from Wheat-free Meat-free!

Recipe:
Vegetarian Chickpea Un-Chicken Salad Recipe



Wendy of Celiacs in the Hose adopted Johnna of 52 Sweets and made a savory olive “cake” that sounds like something both Toddler Yum and I would find absolutely delightful. I hadn’t heard of Johnna before Wendy introduced her to me, but now I’m quite intrigued. I tend to like baked goods with half “Grain” flour and half almond flour, and I bet this would be no exception. Yummy! I have to explore Johnna’s other recipes now.

Recipe:
Black Olive Cake Recipe

Shirley of Gluten Free Easily adopted Paleo Parents and made their Dark Chocolate Banana Bites. I’m not Paleo but this recipe would appeal to just about anyone. How can you go wrong with dark chocolate and bananas? And although Toddler Yum isn’t huge on bananas, she adores chocolate and I’m pretty sure the mini-muffin presentation would thrill her endlessly, so we’ll have to try them. Besides introducing this recipe and some others by the Paleo Parents, Shirley shares wonderful range of information from suggestions from how to use paleo recipes in a vegetarian diet to introducing their upcoming cookbook, Eat Like a Dinosaur: Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids.

Recipe:
Dark Chocolate Banana Bites
*Paleo Parent Photo used with permission

Thomas of the GFCF Experience adopted Cassidy of Cooking Gluten-free and made her Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Thomas found a lot to enjoy at the Cooking Gluten-free Blog, from information on alternative flours (almond and coconut) to dairy substitutions and of course, recipes. He ended up tweaking the recipe a little both to accommodate his larger skillet, flour preferences, as well as his preference for canola mayonnaise over veganaise. However he made it, it looks delicious! We’ve enjoyed pineapple upside down cake at our house, but Toddler Yum ended up picking out the pineapple to eat rather than eating the cake itself. That silly girl. The next time I want pineapple upside down cake I may try her recipe.

Recipe:
Gluten-free Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I adopted Megan and Kim of Welcoming Kitchen and made recipes from their blog as well as their cookbook Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen- & Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes First I made a apple scone recipe from their blog, and pined after a birthday cupcake. And then I made vegan artichoke fritters and gluten-free biscuits from their cookbook. All of the things i made were delicious! I also did a giveaway of Kim and Megan’s book, and Gloria B. was the lucky recipient!

Congratulations, Gloria. And I hope those of you who were interested will check it out at a local library or maybe pick up a copy from Amazon. I think you’ll find it a good purchase!

Recipes:
Gluten-free Dairy-free Apple Scones

*Not officially an entry but I couldn’t leave out Debbi’s adoption post:

Also check out Debbi’s adoption featuring Easy to be Gluten-free’s Corn Casserole recipe.

I must have been in the mood for beans, because that same night I also made her White Bean and Chive Veggie Patty Recipe. I loved the chives and crunchy cornmeal. But I wished I knew what kind of white bean Hero Beth used. I had both white kidney and small white beans in my pantry and didn’t know which would go better. The patties were tasty but needed a little something, so I added a dab of mayonnaise and it complimented them perfectly.

I also made a pumpkin pasta casserole with gobs of cheese and fresh pumpkin puree. I liked it, but I was out of parmesan regianno and could only use the gruyere, which made it a little more plain than the original. I added srirachi hot sauce to mine to kick it up a notch, and added generous servings of pepper and it was pretty tasty. The DH said it was his favorite of all the recipes from the Tasty Yummies blog that I tried. The pasta pictured here is brown rice penne, but I also made some batches with the new gluten-free corn pasta at (west coast) Trader Joe’s. I really like this new jumbo-sized corn penne, but brown rice pasta does look prettier for this recipe.

This was a very fun adoption month and I really enjoyed trying the recipes at Tasty Yummies. The next time I have some brussels sprouts I might have to try Hero Beth’s Shredded Brussels Sprouts with toasted walnuts and dried currants or serve a Gluten-free Vegan Apple Cobbler. Why don’t you check out the amazing recipes and great photos at her site?

This month Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger will be hosted back here at the Book of Yum. It has been a very relaxing two month vacation, and I really appreciate my friends who stepped in to help host for me.* This month, I’ll hope to see you all back here to adopt your own gluten-free blogger.

*If you have a gluten-free blog and would like to host Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger, just let me know in the comments and we can schedule you in!

As I mentioned Hero Beth made TWO recipes. The other recipes is a Raw Butternut Squash and Kale Salad. This recipe excited me because in the back of my mind I have been daydreaming about what a raw Thanksgiving would look like, and this dish is a great start to an amazing raw foods menu. Also, weirdly enough, although Toddler Yum won’t touch cooked squash these days because it is that most suspicious of colors, orange, she has been known to grab raw squash and pumpkin and chow down with enthusiasm. I think if I made this salad (perhaps sans kale, which I would love but which Toddler Yum would undoubtedly pick out fastidiously) Toddler Yum just might gobble it up!

Hero Beth is a tough act to follow, but I thought I’d share one of my favorite vegetarian (vegan) sides- a nutritional yeast gravy that makes everything taste better, from roasted stuffed acorn squash, to mashed potatoes, to biscuits. I bet it would be awesome on Hero Beth’s gluten-free mushroom stuffing as well!

Nutritional Yeast Gravy Vegan  Sauces & Condiments  Alternative Grains  American

Ingredients 1/4 cup brown rice flour 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes 1 1/2 cup water 2 tbsp Braggs GF liquid aminos 2 tsp olive oil 1/4 tsp onion granules 1/4 tsp garlic granules (if desired) 1/8 tsp black pepper Directions Heat brown rice flour and nutritional yeast flakes in a dry nonstick frypan on a medium temperature, and let them lightly brown and release their fragrance. Take the pan off the heat and slowly add water, braggs, olive oil and seasonings, whisking continuously until mixture is silky smooth. Return to heat and stir until gravy reaches desired consistency. Notes I serve this gravy every holiday with mashed potatoes and (on thanksgiving) my portabello stuffed acorn squash dish. It’s so easy you can make it anytime, and top brown rice, pasta, baked potatoes or tofu patties. DH enjoys it too, and it’s considerably easier than the typical American gravy made from scratch.

Rating:  10 Original Source:  adapted from vegan vittles Recipe ID:  1059 Added:  April 11, 2007 Last Modified:  November 20, 2011

Being me I had to try something savory from Kim’s web site and the Gluten-free Dairy-free Fingerling Potato Surprise with a spicy srirachi mayonnaise topping appealed to me. I loved the idea of an un-cheese topping on fingerling potatoes, especially since the DH and Toddler Yum had just harvested the heirloom potatoes we grew in 15 gallon pots this year. Kim’s recipe was delicious, and everyone in our house loved it. Who needs the dairy in traditional twice baked potatoes? These are so much more interesting. The first time I made it with Trader Joe’s canola mayonnaise that is soy-free but contains eggs, and the seasonings were perfect. The second time I made it (yes, it was that good) I used vegannaise with soy but no eggs, and I noticed that it was a little more tart, so I would probably use less lemon juice with the vegan mayonnaise. The second time around I also microwaved the potatoes, sliced lengthwise, and then broiled them with the mayonnaise-srirachi topping. It was a lot faster, but the texture was best when the potatoes were baked according to Kim’s directions.

The DH and Toddler Yum harvesting our potatoes in the garden. Toddler Yum had so much fun digging the potatoes out of the dirt and rinsing them. We just had to keep her from biting into the raw potatoes- she just loves potatoes!

The third recipe I chose was Kim’s Gluten-free Chai Spiced Apple Bread with Chai Chia Streusel. As you may recall from my long-ago post for Chai Muffins, I have a weakness for chai. I’d never had Chai apple bread and was intrigued by the promise of Chai Chia Streusel. I was so intrigued I went out and bought the chia for the recipe. I decided to test the recipe in its egg-free variation. We do eggs in our household now, but I wanted to try Kim’s suggestion for a chia-gel un-egg. As I suspected, this recipe worked well. I did adjust the seasonings a bit for my taste, adding nutmeg and cutting out the powdered ginger. The one thing I missed was the fun of using black tea in a recipe, but I could add that next time. I liked the streusel, but I think I’d like it with a bit of texture, so I might try quinoa flakes or nuts in the topping next time. Or, I might even leave the topping off, as I liked the bread all by itself. The DH enjoyed the bread as is, and pronounced it a success. He didn’t even know it was “missing” the eggs, or that I’d used chia. I would call that a clear recipe substitution success!

Toddler Yum was eager to steal some, and pronounced it “really yummy.” She has been confusing cake and cupcakes lately due to having cupcakes at her birthday party. So, when I wasn’t looking she stole the cinnamon sticks I was trying to use for styling the photo and stuck them in the bread like candles. I turned around to see her earnestly trying to blow the cinnamon stick “candles” out. “What are you doing, honey?” I asked. “Birthday cupcake, mommy, birthday cupcake,” she puffed, turning a little red as she tried to blow out the nonexistent flame. Taking photos is more challenging with an energetic toddler around, but it is also a lot more entertaining.

I also made Kim’s Dairy-free Mochachino, a frappucino like beverage made with coconut yogurt, ground chia, cocoa powder, and banana. The texture was intriguing, and new to me as I hadn’t tried using chia powder in beverages before. I think I may have erred by using very finely ground coffee that I made in a french press, as the drink was a little bitter. I also couldn’t find the vanilla stevia and left that out. This recipe is probably best for those looking for a healthy smoothie-like coffee drink that like coconut yogurt.

Although I don’t have a photo, I have Kim’s Gluten-free and Egg-free Cinnamon Icebox Shortbread Cookies baking in the oven right now and the entire house smells divine.

As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed adopting Kim of Cook it Allergy Free. Thanks to her blog I enjoyed experimenting with some new ingredients such as Coconut Palm Sugar, Organic Chia Seeds, and re-visiting an old favorite, Almond Meal Flour. I’ve also found what I think will be a favorite family recipe that I can see myself making in the years ahead, an absolutely divine pineapple upside down cake. I hope you’ll explore Kim’s blog, but that isn’t all she has to share with the gluten-free world!

Besides having a wonderful, inspiring blog, Kim also has an app for the Iphone or Ipad with hundreds and hundreds of gluten-free, allergy-friendly recipes that she has created along with a very impressive cast of gluten-free baker contributors. You can create a shopping list for ingredients to make the recipes and customize recipes by clicking on allergens to open a list of suggested substitutions. I like the visual feel to the app, with its bright and cheerful photos of recipes, and the friendly, easy-to-use interarface. Kim shared a copy for review so that I could tell you all about it! I am pretty new to the whole app thing, with the DH mostly just sharing his work Ipad with me and toddler Yum on long plane rides, so I’d never used a recipe app before. Let me tell you, this thing would be a godsend for someone newly diagnosed and/or someone navigating some new allergies. And- I may be an old hand at being gluten-free but I loved being able to browse all the recipes. This app is perfect for a recipe junkie like me. Among many others, there was a dairy-free custard that called my name especially loudly.

Kim has given me permission to host a giveaway of her Iphone/Ipad app here. If you would like a chance to win a copy of her app, leave a comment here and tell me what your favorite recipe is at Cook it Allergy Free. If you don’t have an ipad or Iphone, no worries, I’d still love to hear from you. Just mention “no giveaway” in the comments so I won’t include you in the automatic raffle. I’ll announce the winner on 10/15.

The only slight hiccup was just as I was all set to make some recipes from Carol’s cookbook and blog, the DH went traipsing off on a week long business trip to Florida. He is the major sweet tooth in our household. Granted, my mother has a not-so-secret sweet tooth of her own, but she is perpetually on a diet, so not always helpful at consuming goodies. And Toddler Yum does like sweets but I limit her sugar pretty heavily- this kid loves snap peas and artichokes and I’d like to keep it that way! So I hesitated, and waffled, and thought long and hard about what to make from Carol’s cookbook. Interestingly, while Carol’s main flour blend is a white-flour blend, she has quite a few grain-free recipes in her cookbook, like chestnut flour crepes and nut flour muffins.

I decided to make her almond-flour based apple cinnamon muffins because they sounded so darned good and I could feel good about sharing them with Toddler Yum as they were only sweetened with Agave nectar. The recipe yielded twelve moist, sweet but not overpoweringly sweet muffins. Everyone that tried them, from Toddler Yum to my Mother to the intrepid JM liked them, and I was happy to have tried them.

I also tried her chestnut flour crepes from the cookbook. It was a good way to break into the bags of chestnut flour I’d been hoarding in my cupboard, and it sounded simple and tasty. I didn’t make the filling, though, because I didn’t have whipping cream and so I may have missed out on the full experience. Nevertheless, Toddler Yum nibbled on them happily enough. I had never used chestnut flour before and so I was surprised by the toasted-nut fragrance in the flour. It reminded me of kinako, toasted soy flour that is used in Japanese sweets recipes as a topping, and I wondered if I could use kinako in recipes interchangeably with chestnut flour. Ultimately, I wasn’t sure that the taste of straight chestnut flour was quite my thing, but I appreciated that Carol had a recipe that I could try, and now that the bag has been opened perhaps I can find other recipes that just use it as a complementary flour that would suit our household.

The final recipe I tried from Carol’s cookbook was her famous cinnamon rolls.

This recipe used Carol’s classic white-rice, sweet rice, potato starch and tapioca starch flour blend. I think the DH would heartily approve, as he always liked using a similar white-rice mix from Bette Hagman. I hadn’t baked with white rice or sweet rice flour in a while, so it was good to get out those flours and look forward to recipes using a “normal” white flour blend that would emulate its gluten counterpart. I loved how easy it was to make. You whisk the dry ingredients together and then blend the wet dairy ingredients together in a food processor. Toddler Yum got a huge charge out of pressing the pulse button on my food processor. Next you add the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse it together. This resulted in more joy from the toddler- a happy perk. The dough that comes out of the food processor is amazingly easy to work with. Carol says that the strength of this recipe is not just in the ingredients, but in the technique, and I have to agree. I love that Carol gives us the chance to knead the dough, and her technique of rolling the dough between two layers of parchment sprayed with oil is just brilliant. Now, her recipe calls for a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. I’m embarrassed to admit that I had to look up springform pan. Sure enough, I didn’t have one. Instead I used an 8 inch cake pan lined with two long strips of parchment set together to form a cross, so that you can easily remove the cinnamon rolls out of the pan. I couldn’t fit one of the cinnamon rolls in the pan and so I baked it separately. As a bonus, this became my first “tester” cinnamon roll that I could gobble up right away hot out of the oven. I did let it cool for about 5 minutes first. Anyway, not only was this dough very easy to work with, but it produced an excellent cinnamon roll.

My Mother was reminded of her childhood, when a visiting great-grandma would mix up a batch of cinnamon rolls for her parents, she and her two sisters at their farm. She said this gluten-free version was delicious, and while it was not quite as fluffy as the gluten-version, the taste was spot on. The dear Toddler Yum gobbled up a bit and asked for more. And as for me, well, I had one for breakfast with my latte and then had another as I was writing this post. This could be addicting! I do feel a bit bad having made this while the DH was away. The last time he was away I made (raw, nut-based) cheesecake. This time I made homemade cinnamon rolls. Cruel? A little bit… I may have to make this recipe again when he is home, since I don’t think we will have any left by the time he gets home…tomorrow.

The next recipe I plan to make from Carol’s book is her Lemon Bar recipe. This is something I always enjoy ordering at gluten-free bakeries, but never make myself. I think it is time to change that! Also, my Mother loves lemon in any form, but lemon bars in particular, so it would be nice to make some to share. But after that, those dairy-free cream puffs are fair game, as soon as I figure out how to adapt Carol’s flour blend to be potato-free so that I can share them with my allergic friend JM.

Since this is an “Adopt a gluten-free BLOGGER” event and not just an “adopt a gluten-free cookbook author” event I wanted to make sure to make some recipes from Carol’s blog. I had such a good time looking through Carol’s photos of her recipes. I was delighted to find some vegan and vegetarian savory recipes that Carol made for her son and family. I bookmarked Carol’s Recipe for African Vegan Sunbutter Stew and loved reading about her travels in Africa. However, I simply could not resist her recipe for Gluten-free Vegan Spoonbread with a Mess of Greens. She had me at greens… and spoonbread intrigued me as well. As a Yankee… am I a Yankee? No, ok, as a Northwestern native from Seattle, I had never heard of spoonbread. What was it? At first I assumed it was corn bread, but the dough was so liquid I knew that it had to be different. In fact, I was so worried about how liquid the batter was that I sent Carol a message asking if that was normal! Poor Carol. Anyway, I also did a little research on my own and found out that spoonbread is like a cross between “polenta, cornbread and a souffle” and should be soft enough that you can eat it with a spoon. Well, that explains the name! We enjoyed the spoonbread.

Toddler Yum gobbled it up plain like candy, and I covered it with a mess of Carol’s spicy greens. Oh how I do love Southern-style greens… when they are vegetarian! I’d made them before, but I enjoyed Carol’s version so much that I can’t wait to make it again, maybe with a few changes just for fun. I was thinking some seared mushroom bites would be a tasty savory addition to the recipe… or maybe toasted nuts. Yum! I’ve bookmarked another of Carol’s vegan recipes for Creamy Brussel Sprouts and plan on making them in the next day or so.

As always, this adoption was a true pleasure, and I am grateful to have had the chance to review Carol’s wonderful book. It is a wonderful resource, and I know it will come in handy whether I need to make a glutenoid-approved dessert for an event or just a sweet treat for our family. You can watch Carol on youtube and hear more about her fascinating story, and I hope you will check out her blog and cookbook too!

More Reviews of Carol’s book and recipes:
Kim’s review with Black Forest Cupcakes Recipe
Review and recipe for Sticky Mango Rice Cake
Wendy’s experience with Carol’s cupcakes
A general article about Carol’s book

*This post is a day late, because I wanted to make sure that I wrote something that did Carol justice. Apologies… but better late than never!

IF YOU SIGNED UP FOR ADOPT A BLOGGER THIS MONTH, don’t forget Rule #4:
Email me at adoptaglutenfreeblogger[at]gmail[dot]com with your photo of the recipe, the URL of your post, name of the recipe and the URL of the original blogger’s recipe post. PLEASE SIZE PHOTO TO BE A MAXIMUM OF 500 pixels wide.
Thanks!

Worried by the above photo that this blog has dipped off the vegetarian wagon? Never fear! You are eying one of Bernice’s many Gluten-free brilliant meatless burger recipes on a Canyon Bakehouse Gluten-free Bun with organic lettuce from our garden and some tiny heirloom tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market. Looks pretty tasty, doesn’t it, and amazingly like the “real” thing. It was difficult to choose just one recipe, but I ended up making her Gluten-free Vegetarian Bombay Beastless Burger, which has a lentil and roasted eggplant base with egg whites for binding and walnuts for extra protein and texture. The indian spices (cumin, coriander) and tangy indian tamarind really take this burger into international territory, and amp up the yum factor.

One note: Whatever you do, DO poke holes in the eggplant before roasting, as Bernice recommends. I recently tried roasting an eggplant the night before our big trip to Arizona. I made the mistake of cooking it on a low temperature and not poking any holes in the flesh. Usually when I roast them on a high heat the skin cracks open and the steam comes out naturally. However, this time the eggplant swelled up without cracking the skin. When I reached in and poked it with a spatula to see if it was done, it exploded with a massive boom and hot eggplant flesh shrapnel showered all over me, leaving burns on my face, neck, and worst of all, on my arm that was closest. Oh man, that hurt. We used a folk remedy of egg whites whisked with a little baking soda to coat the burns, which seemed to help somewhat, but it still hurt like crazy and it was hard to sleep that night. I had to pick up some long sleeve cover ups for our Arizona vacation specially, but otherwise it worked out. This is probably the worst kitchen injury I’ve ever had, though, and I hope it never happens again. When I roasted the eggplant for Bernice’s recipe I have to admit that I cringed at the idea of taking it out of the oven. It all worked out though, and I vowed to never again skip the puncturing of eggplant in roasted eggplant recipes.

The second recipe I tried by Bernice was a tasty little number with cauliflower, chestnuts and a parmesan breadcrumb herb crumble. I made the minor change of roasting the cauliflower for ten minutes before mixing it up with the breading. I used Canyon Bakehouse gluten-free bread for the crumbs, since I had some on hand from a recent Whole Foods trip. I really enjoyed it, and so did Baby Yum. The DH apparently prefers the texture of raw (yuck) cauliflower or simmered cauliflower in an Indian gravy. Who knew?!!! I could eat this stuff by the pound, though.

As usual, adopting a gluten-free blogger friend was a tremendously rewarding experience and I got to know Bernice’s culinary style better than ever before. The woman is a master of the gluten-free homemade veggie burger, and has inspired me to stock my cupboards with lentils. I always have a huge variety of indian dal, but have been somewhat indifferent to the more pedestrian American lentil since I hadn’t found any recipes that really got my pulse racing. Bernice’s veggie burgers frequently have a lentil base, and it gives them an amazingly realistic appearance and they taste great with her tamarind-vegan worcestershire sauce seasoning. Love that! And I think once you meet this spicy, vibrant gluten-free New Yorker and her blog, you’ll love them too.

Bernice also runs an online gluten-free bakery, housed at Etsy. If you don’t have time to try one of her recipes, why not order some of her baked goods?

Recipes on my “to try” list:
from savory
Vegetarian Borlotti Burger
Southwest Black Bean Burger Recipe
Rosemary Olive Cocktail Bread
Gluten-free Whole Grain Hamburger Bun
to sweet
Gluten-free St. Patrick’s Day Pistachio Cookies
Gluten-free soy walnut wafers
Gluten-free Cherry Red Velvet Valentine Cake

Baby Yum was quite intrigued by the rose pudding and stalked it until she couldn’t stand it any more and just dove in for a snack. She also got into the melted chocolate later, but alas, I didn’t get a photo of the amazing chocolate dipped baby. Here’s evidence of the great custard capture:

This month’s Ratio Rally is hosted by Erin of the Sensitive Epicure.

Wondering what this ratio thing is all about? Shauna the Gluten-free Girl started this rally to encourage gluten-free bakers to use scales to measure ingredients, with the argument that it helps take the guesswork out of baking and corrects for the problem of different baking (and measuring) styles. The cutie patootie scale I use is pictured on the right. I got it at Amazon, like most things in my kitchen. I don’t know if I am ready to jump into using my scale for every recipe yet, but it is kind of fun spending quality time with my scale in the kitchen. Try it and see what you think!

For more amazing gluten-free recipes using pate a choux, see the recipes by
My fellow Ratio Rally Bakers*:

• Amanda of Gluten Free Maui | Earl Grey Cream Puffs
• Amie of The Healthy Apple | Pate Choux with Creamy Macadamia Icing
• Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Savoury Paris-Brest
• Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Key Lime Cream Puffs
• Charissa of Zest Bakery | Choux Shine: Koshi-an Filled Cream Puffs
• Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Eclairs
• Gretchen of kumquat | Cheddar Gougères with Dates and Pine Nuts | A Danish Puff
• Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Gruyère & Herbed Gougères
• Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Cracked Pepper & Cheese Gougères
• Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Marillenknodel with ginger and cardamom sugar & chai cream puffs
• Meaghan of The Wicked Good Vegan | Cardamom and Rose Water Cream Puffs (with Rad Whip!)
• Meg of Gluten-Free Boulangerie | Chouquettes
• Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Almond Choux Florentines
• Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Cream Puffs Filled with Coffee Cream
• Robyn of Chocswirl | Gruyere & Parmesan Gougeres with Sage & Thyme
• Sea of Book of Yum | Rose Vanilla Cream Puffs and Vanilla Eclairs
• Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen | Gluten-Free Spinach Gnocchi Parm
• T.R.of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Beignets
• Tara of A Baking Life | Parmesan & Black Pepper Gougères | Frangipane Puffs

*oops, initially the links were wrong for a few of these blogs on top. I fixed the ones I found- let me know if any are still broken links!

Gluten-free Pate a Choux Recipe Dessert  Alternative Grains  French

Ingredients 200g water or milk (I used milk) 120g shortening or butter (I used butter) 3g salt (I used salted butter so left out) 15g sugar for sweet pastry 60g sorghum flour 60g cornstarch or potato starch 60g tapioca starch 300g eggs (for my supposedly large eggs it took around 6 eggs and 1 extra egg white) Directions Pre-measure flours and other ingredients so they are ready and waiting. Put your liquid, butter, salt and sugar in a pot on the stove on medium to medium high and bring to a full boil. Take the pot off the stove and dump in all your flour, stirring with a heavy-duty spoon. I like to use my wooden spoons for this. Mix completely and turn down the heat to low. Return the pan to the stove, stirring the heavy dough constantly until it forms a ball and leaves the sides of the pan. I put my dough in a standing mixer but if you are buff or want an arm workout, you can do the next step in the pan. Mix the dough on a low speed (or with your buff arm muscles) until the dough has cooled down to at least 140f (60c). Then you can add your eggs, one at a time, beating each one in on medium speed until it is completely mixed in, and then adding the next one. You can use your paste right away or cool it in the refrigerator overnight. I cooled it overnight. To bake, preheat oven to 425f. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You can use a dab of dough as glue to keep the sheet stuck to the pan, or not. Put the paste in a sturdy freezer safe ziploc bag and cut a hole out of the corner. You can use pastry tips if you have them. I don’t, so I just use the 1/2 inch hole in the bag as my “tip.” To make eclairs, pipe 4 inch logs onto the pan. To make cream puffs, pipe or spoon out golf-ball sized spheres onto the baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then, without opening the oven door, lower heat to 375 and bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown. Better to overbake than underbake! When the eclairs or cream puffs look really browned and sturdy, you can open the oven door and turn each one over, piercing the bottom with a toothpick. For my best results, I turned off my (gas) oven and let them sit in the oven and presumably come down in temperature before taking them out. Notes About half of my cream puffs looked pretty, and the rest cracked prior to taking them out. The non-cracked ones stayed inflated. The eclairs I took out too soon, so they deflated.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Adapted to be gluten-free from Gisslen and Ruhlmen’s recipes. My creation, please do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1554 Added:  May 31, 2011 Last Modified:  May 31, 2011

Vanilla Custard Recipe and chocolate sauce for eclairs Dessert  Dairy  French

Ingredients 3 cups milk 1 vanilla bean cut in half horizontally, or teaspoon vanilla 4 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1 tablespoons butter Chocolate sauce for eclairs: 3 squares your favorite chocolate 1 tbsp. butter *if you use bittersweet chocolate, add powdered sugar to taste Directions Prepare filling by combining milk and vanilla and heat on medium-low until just before it starts to boil. Take off burner and let sit for 15 minutes. Whisk together eggs, cornstarch, and sugar in a large bowl until you have a light yellow, creamy sauce. Add 1/4 cup of your warm milk, pouring in gradually and whisking as you pour. Then add the rest in a slow, continuous stream, whisking. Pour back in sauce pan and bring to a low simmer , whisking all the while. When it starts to thicken, take your pan off the burner, whisking like mad. As it cools, add your tablespoon of butter and let it melt into the sauce. When it is no longer too hot, cover with saran wrap or wax paper so it can’t form a skin. Put in refrigerator as soon as it is not burning hot, or put the pan in an ice bath to cool it enough to place it on your refrigerator rack. For the chocolate sauce, combine chocolate with butter in a microwavable dish and nuke at 30 second intervals, stirring after each time until it is a smooth, melted sauce. Don’t overcook! If your chocolate is bitter, you can add sifted powdered sugar and whisk in to sweeten. For assembling eclairs, pipe custard inside the eclair OR if your eclairs have deflated, slice them neatly in half horizontally and either pipe or use knife to fill. Dip in chocolate sauce and then let harden on a cooling rack. If it is a hot day you could do this in a tupperware in the refrigerator- I hate to have custard out at room temperature for long! Enjoy!

Rating:  7 Original Source:  A classic recipe, adapted by me. Please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1557 Added:  May 31, 2011 Last Modified:  May 31, 2011

Rose Whipping Cream filling for Cream Puffs Dessert  French

Ingredients at least 1 cup whipping cream (more depending on how many cream puffs you are making) 1 tbsp. powdered sugar 1/2-2 tsp. rose water (to taste- I bought mine at an Indian market) *rose petals/ buds (*optional garnish found at Middle Eastern markets) Your favorite jam. I used cherry-plum Powdered sugar optional: rose custard to serve Directions Put whipping cream and powdered sugar in a bowl and whip to stiff peaks. Gently fold in rose water. Start with a small amount and add more to taste. To assemble your cream puffs, slice in half horizontally. Put a thin layer of your jam inside the cream puff and then fill with the rose water whipped cream. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, you can dip the underside of your rose petals in the whipped cream and gently attach them to the top of the cream puff for decoration. I served mine with rose custard on the side, in case there wasn’t enough rose-flavored goodness involved.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1555 Added:  May 31, 2011 Last Modified:  May 31, 2011

Vanilla Rose Pudding Dessert  French

Ingredients 6 egg yolks 1 tbsp cornstarch 50 g sugar 1 tbsp. edible dried rose petals or rose buds (from Middle Eastern market) 3 tbsp rose water (or more to taste) 500 ml drinking milk (whatever percent your family drinks) 100 ml heavy cream 1 vanilla pod, cut in half and then cut horizontally with seeds scraped 1/2 tsp vanilla (to taste) Directions Whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar and rose water together in a bowl until smooth. Put your milk and cream, split vanilla pod and rose petals or rosebuds in a saucepan on medium-low heat and take off heat before it reaches a boil. Let milk steep for fifteen minutes or so and then pour over your egg yolk mixture through a strainer, whisking together as you do so. Return the combined egg and milk mixture to your sauce pan and heat on low until it thickens. Remove from heat and let cool. Once no longer hot, put a layer of plastic on top of the custard so it does not form a skin and refrigerate. To serve, garnish with edible rose petals. Can be used as a cream puff filling, but I preferred rose water whipped cream for this.

Rating:  6 Original Source:  Inspired by recipe online but adapted to be my own recipe. Please do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1556 Added:  May 31, 2011 Last Modified:  May 31, 2011