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

Heather of Celiac Family has been a regular participant in Adopt-a-gluten-free Blogger, so I’d like to give a big hip-hip hurray for her and her continued participation! This time around the intrepid Heather adopted Diane of the Whole Gang. As a long time lover of pupusas, she just had to try Diane’s Pork-filled Pupusas, and she was inspired to finally make the traditional accompaniment of Spicy Slaw. Heather loved the ease of this recipe and found the results were really good eats, and very similar to the traditional pupusas that she can buy in California. Yay for another excellent recipe adoption!

A bevy of Yummy Gluten-free recipes:
Diane’s recipe for Pupusas
Diane’s recipe for Spicy Slaw
and just for fun
my recipe for gluten-free vegetarian Arepas

Amy of Life Minus Gluten joined in with her love of clam chowder and Cook’s Illustrated know-how, adopting Brian of Fire and Salt and making his clam chowder recipe to almost universal family approval. (Apparently her daughter “doesn’t like potatoes, clams, soup, celery,creamy stuff, etc so her opinion was not sought for this review.” Hee hee. Those crazy kids.) Anyway, Amy proclaimed the recipe fabulous, perfect for drizzly and cold winter weather, and not only was it thick, creamy, savory and salty, but she said it was some of the best chowder she had ever eaten. She would give it 5 clams- and I would give Amy 5 clams (or oyster mushrooms) for joining us with her lovey post and review!

Recipe for perfect gluten-free Oregon Clam Chowder

We had a terrific turnout for the Adopt-a-gluten-free blogger event this month. Hope you enjoy the gluten-free yummies!

Rachel, The Crispy Cook, adopted Sophie of Flour Arrangements and made some scrumptious Gluten Free Honey and Flax Seed Rolls as well as gluten-free crackers.

Recipe Links:
Gluten Free Honey and Flax Seed Roll Recipe
Gluten-Free Cracker Recipe
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BabyFro at Living without Wheat adopted Nancy of The Sensitive Pantry and tried fennel in a tasty risotto recipe for the first time!

Recipe Links:
Caramelized Onion and Fennel Risotto
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Kalinda at WheatFree Meat Free adopted Carrie the Ginger Lemon Girl and made some toothsome Gluten-free, Vegan, and Soy-free potato and spinach enchiladas.

Recipe Links:
Potato and Spinach Enchilada Recipe
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Heather at Celiac Family adopted Linda the Gluten-free Homemaker and made some delightful gluten-free drop biscuits.

Recipe Links:
Gluten free Drop Biscuit Recipe
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I adopted Michelle of La Cocina de Michelle (or Cooking and Uncooking) and made a dairy free version of her coconut milk based quiche.

Recipe Links:
Coconut Milk Quiche

Because I am a lazy girl, I used a chebe mix for pastry instead of Michelle’s pastry recipe. To be honest, I intended to use a batch of homemade pastry dough in the refrigerator but found it had gotten rock hard and a bit… well, off, so I threw together Chebe out of self defense.

I filled the rustic Chebe crust with Michelle’s suggested alternate rows of zucchini and tomato rows for a colourful presentation, threw tons of fresh basil on top, and drenched the whole thing in the coconut milk egg sauce that I’d blended up.

The result? A fresh, summery, and fun quiche that took advantage of the harvest goodies so plentifully available this time of year.

Michelle has tons of lovely recipes at her blog. I’m currently eying the following:

Ginger Peanut Sauce Recipe, perfect with rice paper spring rolls.
Quinoa Black Bean salad in Zesty Dressing Recipe
and her plentiful collection of raw foods recipes,
including Ani Phyo’s recipe for Nori Rolls (printed with permission)

Wouldn’t you like to get to know this creative and healthy foods oriented gluten-free blogger better?
What’s your favorite recipe by M-Elle? Share in the comments!

This week we went on an epic road trip with our new gypsy van and stopped at many great gluten-free and gluten-free friendly places in California and Oregon. Over the next week or so I’ll be reporting on some new finds and some changes to some old favorites. I’ll begin with our first stop at Farmer’s Kitchen Cafe in Davis, California for dinner. I always enjoy visiting this place for its fresh, local produce and interesting gluten-free dishes. The economy has been hitting this little place pretty hard, so if you get a chance, definitely come by and lend your support to this little gem in Davis, California. The good news is that in the last month or so, the cafe has come up with a gluten-free french bread recipe good enough to please even regular glutenoids and so no longer offers any gluten products in the cafe whatsoever. (And- I’ve tried this bread- it is truly divine and even beats my favorite Bette Hagman’s french bread recipe!) The only downside is that for strict vegetarians, this bread (As well as their sandwich bun/rolls) does contain gelatin and so is not vegetarian. Vegetarians (and even vegans) can take heart, however. Although I would be happy to see more vegetarian dishes on the menu as there is definitely a preponderance of non-veg options, vegetarians can enjoy the salads, roasted vegetable dishes, soups (check on stock), a few veggie sandwich or tacos (note bread gelatin for those that are strict veggies), a veggie/casein free ravioli dish or pizza, and a rice curry dish or two. This time I had my heart set on gluten-free ravioli and was intrigued by the promise of shitake mushroom ravioli, but a sudden rush of customers meant they were out. Instead I had the butternut squash ravioli in a melted clarified butter sauce with garlic. (Marinara was also a sauce option.) I do enjoy their ravioli, but there was an awful lot of the butter/oil sauce (as well as a generous amount of garlic, but no other herbs) so next time I think I’ll go with a marinara sauce. The DH who is neither gluten free nor vegetarian in any sense of the word ordered the chicken salad sandwich with homemade pickles. (I had the pickles and let me tell you, those were some FINE and tasty pickles. I wonder if it is possible to order them with the veggie sandwiches…) He was extremely pleased with his sandwich and proclaimed the GF bread EXCELLENT. I was intrigued by the extensive dessert menu (those darned pregnancy cravings for sweets!) and ordered a strawberry lemon tart. Unfortunately there was an order mix-up and we very nearly lost our shot at the pie, but they were able to get together a last? piece of the pie for us that while not beautiful, was very, very tasty. Their gluten-free pie crust is a little thick but the filling was superb and exactly what I was hoping for with fresh strawberry slices and swirls of strawberry on a tangy-sweet lemon base.

Since we were going to be on the road for a week and I wanted to make sandwiches (and the DH couldn’t stop raving about the bread), I purchased a beautiful loaf of their gluten-free french bread, swallowing my guilt about certain non-veg ingredients that will remain nameless as well as one of their buns and a gluten-free, casein-free chocolate brownie. I have no excuse for the latter except that I have no defense against chocolate these days. The owner also kindly gave me a trial package of their newest gluten-free panko crumbs to try at home. The DH very much enjoyed these panko crumbs on the crab cake sandwich he had last time. They are made from their gluten-free breads so do contain you-know-what, but how could I possibly resist gluten-free panko crumbs?

If you are close to home or have a great ice chest, you can stock up on frozen gluten-free goods including genuinely vegetarian pizzas (some casein-free), ravioli, blueberry muffins, and more. They have a wide variety of (room temperature) dried homemade pastas that I should probably purchase- but due to the time consuming nature of pasta, they are a bit pricey for my budget at $12/lb. I’m sure they’re worth every penny, but since I can and do occasionally make my own (and I’m usually feeling guilty about how much I’ve spent on other things) I haven’t tried them yet.

Previous Posts about Farmer’s Kitchen:
Review from my first visit in April 2nd, 2007
Review from my visit in June 17th, 2008

And now… for the adoptions!

Ricki from Diet, Dessert and Dogs adopted Cheryl of GF Goodness and made her Curried Coconut Greens.

Curried Coconut Green Recipe

Wendy from Celiacs in the House adopted Jessie from Blog Scmogand, or glutenfree4goofs, and made her noodles.

Goof’s Gluten-free Noodle Recipe

For a change of pace, Diane of the Whole Gang adopted cookbook author Ali of Whole Life Nutrition and made her Vegetable Frittata with Potato Crust

Recipe can be found in Ali’s cookbook on the left on page 116.
Investigate Ali’s other recipes at her Gluten-free Whole Foods Blog

Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness adopted me and made my Chickpea and Spinach Curry.

Chickpea Spinach Curry Recipe

Anna of Gluten-Free Anna adopted Elana’s Pantry and made her purple velvet torte.

Gluten-free Purple Velvet Torte Recipe

Trish of Gluten-free in SLC adopted Heather of Life, Gluten Free and made her onion rings.

Gluten-free Onion Ring Recipe.

Emily of Gluten Free Expedition adopted Karina at Karina’s Kitchen and made her GF Foccacia Bread.

Karina’s Gluten-Free Focaccia Recipe with Garlic

I adopted Jill of Hey, that Tastes Good and made her New Gluten-free Biscuit Recipe.

Jill Elise’s Gluten-free Biscuit Recipe

Thomas of the GFCF Experience adopted The Good Eatah and made her Gluten-free Casein-free Caterpillar Cake

Gluten-Free Casein-free Caterpillar Cake Recipe